Hell is Only the Beginning
by JNM
Summary: A teenage boy is caught up in the Raccoon city incident, see how he must struggle against the oncoming darkness and his own personal fears. Alternate retelling of the Resident Evil games please R
1. A Night to Remember

**Hell is only the Beginning**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to the Resident Evil series**

**Author's Note: Well, where to start. I'm sure no one remembers, but over two years ago I was the author of a story called "Through the Eyes of a Child". I never finished it. In fact, after re-reading it the other day, I saw just how horrible it was, and I was thinking about deleting it. Well, I was going to, but I've decided to re-write it instead, now that I'm older and have a far better grasp of English and what I'm doing XD Either way, I'm planning to finish this one no matter what, so please enjoy, and as always please R&R :) **

_Chapter 1: A Night to Remember_

He finally kissed. Her lips were soft, and Jesse could taste her cherry lip-gloss. She grabbed his hand and squeezed, and he returned the gesture. After what seemed like an eternity, the two teenagers finally parted lips, a smile etched on both of their faces. Jesse stared into her eyes, absorbed in their beauty.

"Leanna...You're so beautiful..." He spoke softly.

She blushed, and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "You're so sweet" she whispered back.

It was Jesse's turn to blush, and he frowned out of embarresment, looking down at his feet. "I'll see you tomorrow." She said, letting go of his hands.

"Yeah, have a goodnight." Jesse said, his smile returning once again. He watched as his best friend, and what Jess now figured girlfriend, Leanna Williams open her front door and disappered into her house, giving him one last glimpse at her raven black shoulder length hair, her brown eyes, and her beautiful Filipino face. He stood staring at her door for a few moments, his stomach fliping and floping with butterflies, and then decided he had better head back home. He walked back down her home's garden pathway, and opened the car door of a crimson red 1976 Pontiac Trans Am, and stepped into the car.

"Well, did you do it?" A voice asked him.

"Yeah...It was _amazing_"

A shout of laughter. "Well it's about damn time Jess, you guys have known each other for like...forever."

Jess didn't reply, his smile saying it all. He looked back up at Leanna's house one last time before the car started up with a thunderous roar, and sped off into the night. Jess looked into the car door mirror, ignoring his best friend's rant about Jess's "overdue relationship". Jesse Anderson saw a teenage boy staring back at him, 16 years old, 5'9. His recently shaven, Caucasian face was still smiling, his dark brown eyes wide open and briming with excitment, despite the small but noticable dark lines under his eye. His hair was a typical teenager hair-do, long enough to cover his ears, and straightened with the bangs pushed to the side out of his eyes. It was the typical skater kid haircut, becoming more and more popular with teens. He wore a simple black hoodie, with dark blue pants and "skater" shoes. Jess had an average body weight, not too skinny but not too fat. He took a weight training class last year in his sophmore year at Raccoon High, and he was able to stay in shape over the summer. He was nothing compared to anything like football players or wrestlers though.

"So did you guys make out in the park?" The same voice questioned him.

Jess turned to face his friend with a small grin. "No, we just took a walk." He replied.

"Aww, no action?"

"Clint! Shut your face!"

Clint Harper was grinning like an idiot, his flashy teeth reflecting the street lights as they passed by. He was 17 years old, Caucasian like Jess, the star varsity football quaterback for Raccoon High, and Jess's best friend for 11 years. His short, dirty blonde hair matched his yellow leather jacket, along with his light blue jeans and tennis shoes. He was 6'4, and since he was the star quaterback for the football team, he was in very tip top shape. His muscular frame easy intimidated even the worst bullies at school, and it helped him avoid a fight whenever someone decided to pick a fight with Jess or any other of his friends. He carried on his life with a certain confidence that no one else had, or Jess thought maybe it was extreme cockyness. Either way, it didn't matter when it came to their friendship. They were almost perfect for each other; Jess was patient, a little shy, and certainly didn't mind how much Clint talked. Clint always liked to hear his voice, and they always seemed to watch out for each other throughout school, Jess being the think things through kid, and Clint being the muscle. Despite the differances in things like groups of friends, lifestyles and whatnot, they always managed to keep their friendship.

"So, are you coming with me to Kelly's tonight? I hear she's having a party for the latest game we won."

"Nah, I've got better things to do." Jess replied. Deep down, Jess and Clint both knew Jess didn't want to go a to a party full of popular football players, cheerleaders, and other people Jess particularly didn't like. "Like what? Gonna call Leanna and stay up until god knows when talking on the phone?" The mocking sarcasm was present in his voice. "Whatever. Besides, I've been doing that for the past six months anyway." Jess replied with a small chuckle. "Either way, I don't want to be out too late. You know it's been all over the news, those weirdos attacking everyone." The car slowed to halt at a red light, though no other cars were present at the intersection. "Oh come one, you seriously believe what Danny Parker has been saying?" Clint took a right turn, and suddenly decided to head towards the downtown area. "What? About how come crazy cult is doing all the killing?" Clint nodded. "No way, that kid is seriously crazy, I swear. Either way, someone's doing the killing, and I don't want to be running around after dark." The resolve was clear in his voice.

"Ok, ok, well let's stop and get somthing to eat downtown. I need somthing to eat before going to Kelly's." Clint stated more then asked. Jess signed in annoyance, but nodded in agreement anyway.

The rest of the car ride was mostly silent, so Clint turned his radio on, hopeing to catch a good rap or hip-hop song playing. Instead, he was greeted with silence. "What's wrong with your radio?" Jess asked. "It's not my radio, it's the damn radio station." Jess chuckled to himself. He looked outside the window, observing the streets and it's people, or rather it's lack of people.

"There's no one around" Jess stated.

"I'm sure everyone is just at the Sharks football game, I heard they were playing Springfield tonight." Clint replied, still trying to fix the radio.

They turned another corner, and Clint slammed on his brakes. "Ugh!" Jess was thrown forward, and gave a bewildered look to Clint. He was staring off into the distance. Jess looked outside the window. About 5 blocks down the streets, three cops cars were sitting in the middle of the road, forming a barricade. Jess could see the officers waving the hands around, motioning towards shapes in the darkness. People were running in the opposite direction, screaming and shouting. Jess stared wide eye at all of the people fleeing down the street.

_Those people are injured! Holy shit, they're bleeding!_

"Let's get out of here, I don't want to mess with the cops at all." Clint jammed his car into reverse, and slammed his foot on the pedal. "Wait! We gotta help them or somthing!" Jess exclaimed, unbuckling his seatbelt. "No Jess!" Clint looked back at Jess. "We-"

_**Thud!**_

Clint immediatly stopped the car and looked in horror at the back window. A shape blocked the rear view window, unmoving for a moment, and then slid off the car, falling to the ground with a sickly _splat!_ that the two teens heard. Jess's heart seemed to stop. Both boy slowly turned to look each in the face, both wide eye with the realization of what had happened. "Oh my god, I just hit someone!" Clint shouted, unbuckling his seatbelt, throwing his car door open and running behind the car. Jess quickly followed, running around to the back of the car. He stopped when he saw the person on the ground.

"What the..._fuck?_" Clint whispered. He backed away from the corpse, his jaw wide hanging wide open with utter shock. "What? Jess asked, and stepped into view of the man's face. "H...Holy shit!" Jess stuttered, backing away with Clint. One good look at the face was all Jess needed to see. The flesh was completely white, absoluetly no color at all. The man had no lips, and a chunk of the skin on his nose was missing, reveiling his bone. His cheek was bloody and Jess saw a gaping hole in the man's neck. the two things that got Jess the most were the eyes. There were no pupils, at all. The milky white eyeballs just stared into the sky, no color whatsoever where the pupil should have been. Then, there was the smell. Jess took one good wiff outside of the car, and his stomach floped around like jelly. The man smelled like roadkill you would find on the highway. jess had to breathe through his mouth, but the smell was so strong it didn't seem to help at all.

Jess found it hard to say anything at all, his throat not wanting to open properly. "Jesus Clint, what the fuck did you do?" He finally managed to spit out. "N-No, there's no fucking way I did that!" The panic was clear in Clint's voice. "Then what happened to-" A moan interrupted Jess, freezing both boys in their tracks. They looked it horror at the body. It moved.

"Ooh..." The man whined again.

"Shit! He's alive!" Clint yelled and ran over to help the man. He bent down and grasped the man shoulders, trying to talk to him. "Hey! Hey man, are you ok!? What the fuck happened-" He stopped when the man reached out towards Clint, grasping his forearm and pulling Clint towards him.

_Clint! Get away!_ Jess couldn't speak the words, he stood frozen with fear. The next thing he knew, Clint was screaming in pain. "Aaaah!" Jess's eyes widened even more. The man was _biting_ Clint's forearm his hands digging deep into Clints arm, like a drowning man gripping a lifeguard for dear life. Clint howled in pain, and tried to pull away, but the man wouldn't let go. "Jess!! Fucking help!!' Clint screamed at Jess, who was still standing there. Jess blinked, and then his mind registered only one thing.

_Help Clint_

Jess ran and kicked the man in the stomach with all the force he could muster, but his foot just seemed to sink right into the monsters's stomach. Jess kicked him again, this time in the jaw, which made it let go of Clint's arm, if only for a moment. Clint jumped back, and fell to the ground, screaming in pain. Jess quickly ran over to Clint and grabbed his arm, trying to help him to his feet. "Come Clint! I'm not that goddamn strong!" Adrenaline flowed thorugh Jess's veins as he helped Clint stand up. "Fuck! Fuck!" Clint screamed again, holding his injured arm against his side. Jess paniced, he didn't know what to do.

_Oh my god, what do I do!? _Jess looked around, looking for someone, anyone to call out to. "Help! My friend's hurt!" He screamed at a few fleeing citizens, but they ignored him. He cried out again, but the only thing that was listening was the former corpse behind them, rising to its feet.

"Uhhhggg..." It moaned in frustration, shambling towards the two teens. "Oh my god!" Clint screamed, his adrenaline kicking in, running towards the nearest building. He ran up the steps, Jess following behind. The door was locked. "Help!" Clint screamed, banging on the door with his good arm.

_There!_ Jess spotted a building across the street. "Clint come on!" Jess pulled at Clint's jacket and they ran down the steps across the street. They dodged and weaved in between the crowd who was still screaming in terror and running away. Jess didn't bother to see where they were going, he just thought of one thing, and that was to get away from that corpse. He wanted to get away and never see that man again. Too bad fate had other plans for Jess. Jess only caught a glimpse of the sign above the building before he grasped the doorknob and Clint and him toppled into the doorway.

The sign read _J's Bar._

**Author's Note: Well, that's chapter one. Pretty short, I know. I plan to make following chapters longer, but for now this will have to do. If you would be so kind, please give me a review on what you thought. Please don't flame, but I certainly welcome constructed criticism and such. Any help pointing out spelling and grammer errors would be most kind too :) Thanks**


	2. No Going Back

**Hell is only the Beginning**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to the Resident Evil series**

**Author's Note: Ok, well here's chapter two. It forgot to put this warning in the first chapter, and I'm sorry, my mistake. Basically, this story is NOT for children. It is gory and is filled with harsh language. This is an M rated story, so I'm going to use that to full effect. Just letting you guys and girls know :)**

_Chapter 2: No going back_

As Jess and Clint barged through the door to J's Bar, Clint's muscular frame easily overshadowed Jess, and accidently threw him down to the ground as the two hurried through the doorway. Clint quickly turned around and with his good arm, slammed the door shut as hard as he could, and quickly fell down and leaned against it. Jess quickly stood up and took a couple steps away from the door before turning around and looking around. The building they ran into was in fact a bar, and it had several customers, all wide eyed and staring at the two. Jess would have thought that he had gone deaf, if it wasn't for the TV against the far wall broadcasting the news. No one moved. No one spoke. They all just stared, some with their jaws hanging open, others with a clear look of annoyance. Jess just stood there, unable to speak. He was still shaking, his throat was dry, his brain unable to form a clear thought. He finally muttered somthing.

"H...Help..." he croaked, and sank back against the wall, falling down and burying his face in his knees. It seemed like the world returned to normal. At once, there was several shouts, and the number of footsteps that came running across the hardwood floor felt like an earthquake. He felt a pair of hands grasp his shoulders, shaking him just enough to rouse him. He looked up and saw a young woman's face, no more then 30 years old, staring back at him. Her beach blonde hair was tied back into a ponytail, and she was wearing a waitress outfit. Her face was beautiful, to say the least. To Jess she was an angel from heaven. Her emerald eyes were full of worry, but Jess couldn't look away from them. It wasn't love, but Jess _immediately _felt better just being in her presence. "Are you ok?" she asked. Her voice was a small but effective band-aid on Jess's sanity.

He nodded, and tried to speak again. His throat felt dry and cracked. He swallowed his spit and cleared his throat. "I'm ok, but he's not." Jess motioned towards Clint, who was talking to a police officer. "This fucking asshole bite my arm!' he screamed in the cop's face, revealing his arm. "Holy shit!" the man yelled. Several other people were behind to the adults, watching with eyes wide open. "Call a doctor!" The cop shouted over to another waiter behind the bar. "I'm a doctor!" A man in a buisness suit came pushing through the small crowd, carrying a small black briefcase.

"What happened?" The man asked. "It's his arm Doc." The cop replied, scooting over to let the doctor examine Clint's arm. "Jesus!" the doctor exclaimed. Jess was still sitting on the ground next to Clint, so he turned and got a good look at Clint's wound. His arm was missing a _huge_ chunk of skin, and it was bleeding profusley. At least half of his forearm was completely gone. Jess's jaw once again dropped in amazement.

_Oh my fucking _god!_ That guy bit thorugh his leather jacket _and _half of his arm!? That's impossible..._

"Come on, let's go sit at the bar..." Cindy helped Jess stand up and firmly placed her hands on his shoulders, leading him away from the door to sit on the corner of the bar. Jess was still shaking. He looked around, first to Clint to see what was happening, and then around the bar itself. He saw two men still sitting at the bar. They wore identical grey jackets, and matching black slacks. The first man was rather large, African American man, and had an eyebrow raised towards Jess. He was bald, and his face was starting to wrinkle. He saw he had a gun on his belt, and guessed he was another cop or a security guard. He kept his gaze on Jess. Jess quickly looked away, avoiding his gaze. The waitress returned to Jess's side, putting a glass of water on the bar in front of him. "Thank you..." Jess muttered, and he took the glass. He drank the water quickly, and set the cup back down on the table. He took a deep breath and then turned around to see Clint sitting against the wall, the doctor and cop tending to him. The other waiter brought a glass of water from Clint, and he greedily drank the cup dry.

"Kevin! Did you call an ambulance?" The waitress called out to the police officer. "Yeah Cindy, dispatch said they would send one right now." The police officer answered. "Umm, Cindy?" the doctor struggled with her name. "Yes?" Cindy answered. "Do you have a first aid kit around here anywhere? Or maybe just some bandages at least?" Cindy paused to think for a moment. "Will!" she called out, turning towards the other waiter. "Run upstairs, there should be a first aid kid in the staff room." the waiter named Will nodded and ran towards the opposite site of the bar room, opening a door and running upstairs.

"Hey kid, don't worry, your gonna be ok..." Kevin was trying to calm down Clint, who was in a sense, freaking out. His arm was still bleeding, and the fear and panic he was facing was written clearly all over his face. He didn't reply, just letting out a grunt and shaking his head.

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Clint let out another small grunt as another wave of pain shot through his arm. He sat next to Jess at the bar, and the two sat in silence as Kevin, Will and the doctor, who Clint found his name to be George, talked quietly behind the bar. Jess could feel the other customers eyes on them, but he just stared at the counter, just wanting to turn invisible. Another customer, a young Asain woman came into the bar and quickly walked into the bathroom, but otherwise the room was mostly quiet. Jess would risk a glance at the other customers, observing them while they waited. Most of the customers appered to be alone. There were the two men sitting next to Jess, one had apparently fallen asleep, and there was an older man sitting in the middle of the bar. Jess could see he wore a dark green vest and matching trucker hat. His five o'clock shadow was on the verge of becoming a full-fledged beard, and his eyes looked like hell. He quietly sipped the rest of his drink to himself. Next to him was another man, younger then the trucker, though not by much. He was wearing a tan plumber outfit, and it looked he just got off the job the way his clothes were stained. The one thing that stood out to Jess was his hair. It was jet black, and it was tied back into a ponytail.

_It's the same color as Leanna's..._

Jess's stomach did another flip when he thought of her. He couldn't help but worry. _I hope to god she's ok...I'm sure she is, she lives way uptown...No way those freaks would be near her neighborhood_

The sound a fist slamming down a table brought Jess back to his thoughts. he looked over towards the window, where he saw two woman, both dressed in suits. One was standing up, her fist still on the table, her face twisted with anger. She had short, blonde hair, and her suit was red from head to toe. Jess couldn't see the other woman's face, but he saw she had long, curly brown hair. She was dressed in a similair suit as the first woman, only her's was black instead of red. She motioned for the first woman to sit down. Jess heard a sigh of disgust, and she sat down, beginning to type away furiously at the laptop in front of her. The last man Jess saw was working on a crossword puzzle at the table next to the two woman. He was an African American, but he was much younger then the man sitting next to Jess. He was dressed in a blue uniform, one Jess recognized that Raccoon's subway system workers wore. He had never seen that man before though. He looked away, and turned towards Clint.

"Hey man...How're you doing?" Jess asked softly. "Fine" Clint gritted through his teeth. The bandage George put around his arm was growing redder by the minute. "Don't worry, after Kevin got our stories, he called for an ambulance to take you to the hospital. You'll be outta here soon" Jess forced a smile, and Clint returned it. "Yeah, it's just like...What the fuck you know? Who in their right mind would _bite_ another person?" Jess frowned, and said nothing, returning to his staring contest with the counter. Jess looked at the clock behind the counter. It read 8:47. _My mom is going to have a hard time believing this one..._

_Crack!_

The bar door swung open, and another pair of people came crashing into the bar, gasping for air and screaming for help. "Jesus lady, what happened to you!?" Kevin yelled as he grabbed the young woman, blood gushing from her neck. He sat her down on the floor and called for George. "Again?" Will said to himself as he ran around the bar to help. The two victims were young women, both reduced to tears. The patrons watched in disbelief as they told the same story as Jess and Clint did minutes ago.

"Monsters! I swear to God himself! They just started attacking everyone in sight!" One woman yelled in hysterical sobs. She was wearing black jeans and a lime green jacket. Her long, light brown hair was frizzled and in a mess, her body shaking as Cindy helped her stand up and led her away from the door, towards the bathrooms. The other woman, a more heavyset type of girl, was holding her neck, blooding pouring down her white dress. She too was shaking, and George couldn't help because she kept pushing him away. "Get away! Away!" she screamed. "Lady, you need to calm down!" Kevin shouted. "Jesus Christ, shut up!" the trucker yelled, turning towards the crying woman, drink still in hand. "Let the goddamn man help you!" he shouted again. His voice was gruff, but clear and the woman stopped screaming, but whether she was coming to her senses or she was in shock from the man's yelling Jess couldn't tell.

_What the hell is going on?_ Jess and Clint exchanged bewildered looks, and Clint leaned over towards Jess. "I think we need to get out of here. My car is still outside, I'm not staying here with all of this shit going down." He tried to keep his voice down, but the black man next to Jess turned towards them both, and gave them a glare. Moments later, he began whispering to his partner, who was still seemingly asleep through all of the chaos. When the man got no response from his collegue, he shook the man to wake him.

"Hey Bob, where's your mind at?" he asked, his voice was cracked and rough, like he had been screaming every word his entire life.

"Wha...?" The man named Bob seemed to stir, looking around to see the chaos. He too was deathly pale, his eyes bloodshot and his skin wrinkled to match his little amount of grey hair on his head.

"Hey Mark, I don't feel too good..." Bob muttered a moment later, before passing out and falling off of the bar stool.

"Dammit! He's unconsious!" the black man yelled, jumping down to his friend's side. For Jess time seemed to slow to a crawl. He looked around at the chaos unfolding in the small pub. The two security guards on the floor, one trying to help the other. The two women over by the bathrooms, crying and shaking uncontrollably. In the windows, Jess could see shapes of people were pressed against the glass, but he couldn't make out anything through the smears of blood. Through all the chaos in the room, Jess heard one sound that elevated itself above everything else.

_Click! Creeeak!_

The bar's entry door opened, and there stood a man. Jess slowly turned his head and got a good look at this man. It wasn't just any man though. His skin was white, no color at all. His greasy black hair covered his face, but not the smell, a smell Jess remembered all too clearly. He stumbled like a drunk man, making his way over Will, closest to the door. To Jess it was the same man that Clint had hit with his car. The same man who bit a chunk out of Clint's arm. The same man who shouldn't even be alive. There he was though, standing in the doorway. Will stood still, perplexed at the newcomer. "Hey, are you ok?" Will questioned, a slight hint of fear in his voice. A small moan was the only response. Jess wanted to scream, to tell Will to move, to tell Kevin that was the guy, he wanted to do somthing, but he didn't. He just sat there, frozen in his own fear. He watched as the man lunged towards Will, grabbing him with both hands sinking his rotting teeth into his neck.

"Ahh! Hey! W-What are you doing!?" Will screamed. Will pushed against the man, and even more blood drenched the floor already blood-stained from two other people's blood. "Ahh! Ugh!" Will grunted and wrestled with the man, finally pushing him out the door. Will slammed it and quickly locked it. He fell to his knees, his body already going into shock.

"WILL!!" Cindy screamed, running over to him and pulling him away from the door. "Oh my god! Will, are you ok!? Will!?" He didn't even look at her.

"Holy shit! There are more them! They're coming this way!" The subway worker yelled, jumping away from the window. Clint grabbed Jess's shoulder and turn Jess towards him. "See! I fucking told you! Come on!" Clint pulled Jess off of the bar stool and the two of them ran behind the counter, having no idea what to do. Everyone seemed to follow, crowding behind the counter, staring in horror at the myriad of shapes crowding around the bar's window.

"This is Officer Ryman, requesting immedi- What the hell?" Kevin screamed as the bar's front door shook violently. Everyone seemed to stop as three more figures threw themselves against the door, and it completely broke off its hinges. More people stumbled inside the bar, tripping over each other as if they were drunk. They turned towards Will, still on the ground in shock. "No, get back!" Cindy screamed, trying to pull Will to safety. The man with the trucker clothing jumped across the bar, and grabbed Cindy, pulling her away from Will. "NO!" she screamed, putting up small resistence compared to the tall man pulling her away. "Stop! I said stop you crazy fucks!" Kevin shouted, drawing his .45 pistol. He aimed it at the nearest man, but they all ignored Kevin. They stumbled and shambled towards Will, who was simply staring in horror at the three men standing over him.

"AHHHHHHH!!" Will screamed as they collapsed on him, biting their teeth deep into him, blood spraying like a geyser across the floor. He screamed and moaned in pain, until he finally stopped breathing. The monsters however, kept eating him. The room was deathly silent, except for the sounds of flesh being torn from bone. Jess's heart stopped, watching as Will was torn to pieces like helpless doe in a pack of rabid wolves. Finally, an ear-piercing scream shattered the silence. Shouts and screams of all kind deafened Jess. The panic spread like wildfire in the small crowd. "Upstairs! Get upstairs!" Kevin shouted. Several people made there way over to the small doorway next to the bar, hopeing to get to safety on the second floor.

_BANG!_

Jess blinked, his ears going deaf, hearing only a small ringing in the background. He looked across the room and saw Kevin firing his gun.

_BANG BANG!_

Each gunshot made the ringing in Jess's ears louder, until Jess fell to his knees, closing his eyes and covering his ears.

_Stop it!_

The ringing however, didn't stop. A second set of gunshots, this time from Jess's immediate right. He looked as Mark struggled to support Bob, while firing his handgun into the oncoming crowd of monstrosties. "Move kid!" He yelled at Jess, but Jess didn't understand. A hand grabbed him and pulled way from behind the bar, and shoved him through the doorway. His hearing came back, all too loud and clear. It sounded like an earthquake, with so many people running up the stairs in panic. Another push and he too began running up the stairs. He turned around and saw the trucker, helping Kevin block the door with useless junk as Mark and Bob began to climb the stairs. Another flight of steps and Jess entered a small hallway. He followed the person he was behind, not caring who it was, and walked into what he assumed was the staff break room. Everyone else was already there, and Jess looked around, still dazed and confused. He immedietly ran over to Clint, who was sitting against the far wall in a leather chair "You're ok!" Jess cried. Clint nodded, seemingly out of breath. Everyone was out of breath, some shaking and some crying. Mark and Bob came into the room, looking for somewhere to rest. Kevin was last into the room. "Everyone ok?" he asked. He got mostly grunts and simple headnods, but others were more troubled.

"Fuck no man! Am I ok? Did you see that shit!?" the subway worker yelled, jumping up and waving his hands in the air. Kevin ignored him, and looked around the room. Seeing a nail gun, he quickly grabbed it ran back into the hallway. "Hey someone get out here and help me!" He yelled. No moved at first, but then the plumber jumped up and ran into the hall to help Kevin. Jess couldn't hear over everyone's banter, but Kevin was nailing the hallway shut with boards of wood,held in place by the other man.

"No going back now." He said to himself when the job was finished, looking on as the doorway back downstairs was closed.

**Authors Note: Well, there's chapter two. Maybe a little longer then intended, but either way I hope you can enjoy it. Please R&R, ****constructed criticism and spelling/grammer help are always welcome :)**


	3. Calm Before the Storm

**Hell is only the Beginning**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to the Resident Evil series**

_Chapter 3: The Calm Before the Storm_

It had been 45 minutes since Kevin finished the wooden barricade, but to Jess it seemed like a lifetime. The survivors had settled down in the staff break room, recooperating and regaining their composure. The bangs from the first floor door were ceasing, but everyone could still hearing the screams and shout from outside. Occasionally, a siren would pass by, but no more gunshots in front of the bar could be heard. During this time, names were exchanged and small details about each of the survivor's lives were told. Jess sat next to Clint on a couch in the back corner. Clint and him whispered small talk, but the room was generally pretty quiet, which bugged Jess. He didn't like the idea of just sitting and waiting with those freaks downstairs, but he had no other choice. He looked around the room, observing the survivors and was trying to remember their names.

Sitting next to him was Lauren Chapman, a reporter for the Raccoon Times. She had a small notepad out, and was writing quick notes and thoughts. It was she who insisted on learning everyone's name. Jess figured that she was going to have one hell of a story after tonight was over. She turned to Jess occasionally, asking questions about his feelings and thoughts, and he gave her the cold shoulder. Jess did not like her asking him how he was feeling after somthing so tramatizing and scary to him. She got the hint, and turned towards the other survivors.

Across from Jess sitting in a small leather chair was Trevor Sullivan, a truck driver for a furniture company. He was generally pretty quiet, not saying much about himself. He was tapping his foot, constantly looking around and waiting for somthing to happen. When the ragtag group rummaged through the small refridgerator in the room, the first thing he asked for was a shot of alcohol. He was clearly upset when none was to be found in the fridge. Jess figured that he wasn't a man to care about himself though, considering he helpedJess get out of the bar area, and helped Kevin form a hasty barricade downstairs.

In another chair next to Trevor was Yoko Suzuki, a young collage student at the local university. She was wearing simple blue jeans and a black tank top, covered by a green jacket. She hardly spoke at all, but when she did Jess noticed she had next to no accent for being of Japanese decent. Jess figured she must have been born and raised in America her whole life. She was extremly quiet and looked very uncomfortable, though Jess couldn't blame her looking at the situation.

Pacing back and forth in the center of the room was subway worker Jim Chapman. The first thing Jess noticed about him was his cowardice. He looked like his sanity was going to break any second, constantly muttering to himself as he played with a coin. He definitely didn't seem like a team player, and in the back of his mind, Jess couldn't help but think he could get alot of people hurt.

Leaning against the desk next to the refridgerator was Kevin Ryman, the police officer. Jess immediatly got the impression that he was out to save lives. If it wasn't for him, alot of people could have been hurt or even killed downstairs, and Jess certainly grateful for his presence. Kevin sighed in frustration as his radio once again blared static, and he simply shook his head when the other survivors looked to him for hope.

Keeping a close eye on the makeshift barricade was Mark Wilkins, the black security guard. He too seemed like the kind of man that would risk his life for others. He let on that he was once a soldier back in Vietnam, but didnt say much. He and Kevin clearly seemed to be on the same page, taking responsibility for 14 different people when he clearly didn't have to.

Sitting against the wall next to Mark was Bob Miller, Mark's best friend. To Jess, he was clearly sick. His skin was pale, and he didn't have enough strength to even lift himself upon his feet. Jess had a bad feeling whenever he looked at Bob. Almost as if on cue, Bob looked up and looked at Jess. His bloodshot eyes met Jess's, and Jess quickly broke his gaze, turning around and bowing his head. Jess couldn't shake his bad feeling about Bob.

There were others in the adjoining rooms. In the locker room across the hall, Cindy Lennox was searching through the lockers for anything useful. She was the waitress that helped Jess downstairs, and she instantly had Jess's trust. She reminded him strongly of Leanna; caring, patient, and always looking towards the bright side of things. Even now though, Cindy couldn't help but try and hold back tears. Her last image of Will was burned deeply in her mind, and she knew it would haunt her for a long time to come. She opened her own locker and found a case full of herbs that grew around Raccoon City. She closed her locker, wiped her eyes and went to give them to George.

Across the room from her was the plumber, David King. He was a quiet man who only spoke when spoken to. Jess wondered if he even had a voice. He seemed to keep to himself, not caring about the others. He searched through the lockers, finding only a steel pipe. He grabbed it and returned to the break room.

In the drawing room across the hall from the locker room, George Hamilton was tending to the two woman that came screaming in the bar after Jess and Clint. He too was a quiet man, but the others seemed to take a liking to him almost immedietly, Jess included. Cindy brought him her herbs, and he thanked her with a smile. "These will help stop the bleeding." He spoke to Helen Tebbs, the larger woman who was bleeding from the neck. Next to her was Lisa Codd. Both were students at the university. They didn't speak to the others at all. Jess only knew there names because he overheard George talking to Kevin about them.

Behind George was Alyssa Ashcroft, the other woman in the red suit. She too was a reporter for the Raccoon Times, and she was clearly was proud of the fact. Her snotty attitude towards Lauren gave Jess the impression that they weren't friends at all, and she gave the impression that she was the kind of woman who thought she was always right.

The room was dead silent. The only noise was Jim's pacing, or an occasional but rough cough from Bob. "Hey..." Jess whispered to Clint, who was starting to doze off. "How's the arm doing?" he asked. Clint looked down at his arm, and then back up at Jess. "I can't feel my hand." he answered. Everyone around the table turned to look at him. Jess blinked. "What?" he asked, making sure he heard clearly. "I said, I can't feel my hand. I can't move it, at all. Period. Nothing." Clint replied, holding his arm in the air for a moment. Jess opened his mouth, then closed it, unsure of what to say. "I'll go get George." Jess finally said. He got up and walked across the staff room, avoiding the other's gazes.

"Hey...George?" Jess asked nervously as he walked into the drawing room. He could see Helen on the ground, still holding her neck, her face clearly showing the misery she was in. "Yes, what is it?" George responded.

"Can you take a look at my friend? He says..." Jess paused, unsure of how to say it. George nodded and followed Jess back into the staff room. Kneeling down by Clint, George examined his arm again. The bandages were soaked in a dark crimson red color.

"How does it feel?" George asked.

"I can't feel my hand." Clint said, aggitation in his voice.

George frowned, and squeezed Clint's pinky. "Anything?"

"No, not a thing."

"Dear God...He could have bitten right into your nerve..." George whispered.

"Am I gonna be ok?" The fear was evident in Clint's voice.

"You need to get to a hospital, right away." George said grimmly. "Well that one's gonna be kinda hard Doc." Mark said from across the room. "Try not to move it ok? If we could put it in a sling for now..." George looked at the others for help. "Here, use my jacket." Jess said unzipping his hoodie, revealing a black t-shirt with "Metallica" written across in silver letters. "Anyone have a knife?" George asked. For a moment, only silence. "Yeah." A raspy voice called out. David dug his hand through his toolbelt on his waist, producing a small folding knife.

_Ahh come on, I love that jacket..._

Minutes later, George wrapped the sleeves of the hoodie around Clint's neck, triple knotting them and then resting his arm in what was left of the hoodie. The scraps were thrown away. Clint let George finish up, and nodded, thanking the good doctor. "That's all I can do unless we get to a hospital. Just try not to move it ok? Tell me if any feeling returns." George gave a reassuring smile and returned to the drawing room. The room returned to silence, and it was clear the silence was getting to some of the others, particulary Jim. "Shit man, I can't take this no more..." He whined, constantly pacing back and forth. He was starting to get annoyed looks from around the room. "Hey! maybe those freaks are gone?" He questioned, hopeing for someone to agree with him. "You can go check. I'll stay here." Trevor answered. Jim fell silent.

"So you like Metallica?" Trevor asked Jess. The question caught Jess momentarily surprised, he didn't think Trevor of all people would make small talk about music at a time like this.

"Yeah, they're pretty good." He replied.

"I remember going to a concert back in '86...Yep, it was the shit, let me tell you." he gave a small chuckle and smiled.

Jess returned the smile. "Yeah, I bet. I've never seen them live."

Trevor sat up, eager to keep the conversation going. "It was crazy, people jumping and screaming, the band rocking out, it's somthing I'm going to remember for awhile..."

"How old are you?" Jess asked. Trevor gave a small chuckle. "47, kid. What about you? You look 17 or 18." Jess shook his head.

"Only 16, 17 in January though." Trevor gave no reaction, changing the subject back to music. "Have you listened to '...And Justice for All'?"

"I actually love that album, it's one of my favorites." Jess exclaimed, eager to talk about one of his favorite bands. While the two of them started talking about Metallica, Kevin turned to Cindy as she came back into the staff room, sitting on the table next to Kevin. "Cindy, we can't just sit here. Are there any other ways out of this building?" Cindy thought for a moment. "Well, we can go up to the roof, but I don't think there's a fire escape." Kevin waited for Cindy to go on. "Upstairs is the wine celler, and then the roof, but Kevin there's no way down except to go back the way we came." Cindy didn't like the expression on his face. Before Kevin could reply, Mark spoke. "Are there any other guns around? What did you guys do if you had a rowdy customer?" Cindy once again paused to think. "Yeah, the owner James told us he put a shotgun in the drawing room and...He told Will he had a revolver in his desk in his office...Oh god Will..." Cindy choked, and held back her tears. Kevin put his hand on her shoulder. "I'm sorry Cindy..." With a nod to Mark, the two set off to retrieve the weapons.

"I'll get the shotgun." Mark muttered. "That leaves the revolver to me." Kevin said, stepping past Bob and into the small office. "Where's the shotgun?" Mark asked George, sitting against the wall. "I have no idea." the doctor said. Maybe in the cabinet?" Mark walked across the room, eyeing Helen. Her skin was losing its color, her eyes full of despair. Mark shook his head. He opened the cabinet doors and to his delight found the shotgun Cindy was talking about. It was a Remington 870 pump-action shotgun. He found a silver box, upon inspection finding 14 shells. Mark smiled to himself. Returning to the staff room, he looked around at the occupiants, looking for someone to take it. To Mark, Jim was out of the question, and he wasn't going to give the shotgun to either teenager. "You." He pointed at Trevor. "You know how to use one of these things?" Trevor walked over to him and inspected the gun. "Yeah." he stated. "It's not loaded, here are some shells." Mark handed over the box of 12 gauge shells. Trevor pocketed them, not bothering to load the shotgun.

A crash came from the office behind them, and the group jumped, ready to fight or flee. Another crash, and then silence. Mark raised his handgun, slowly walking towards the door. Moments before he reached it, the door opened, and Kevin stepped out, startled by the gun in his face. "Hey chill out!" he cried, raising his hands. "The damn desk had a lock on it, had bust the damn thing open." The survivors relaxed, and Kevin mimicked Mark, looking around the room for a potential candidate. His eyes rested on David. "Here." Kevin said, handing the revolver over to David, along with a single speed-loader. David nodded, taking the gun and handing the lead pipe to Cindy. She nodded and with a small smile took it from him.

"Dear God! Someone help!" cried George from the drawing room. Kevin, Mark and Trevor quickly dashed into the drawing room. Lisa was sitting in the corner of the room, wide-eyed in shock. George was pushed against the wall, Helen on top of him. "What the hell!?" Kevin cried, raising his pistol. George struggled against's Helen's weight, trying to push her off of him, but it didn't help. She suddenly had the strength of a ferocious lion. Alyssa grabbed the small chair that George was occupying, raising it over her head and with a cry, brought it down on Helen's head. The chair made a loud _thwack! _and Helen tumbled off of George. The blow only seemed to daze her for a second, because seconds later she regained her composture and turned to face the small group. Kevin and Mark gasped at the sight of Helen, realizing what had happened to her. She turned her eyes on Alyssa, the closest to her, her pale, colorless eyes hungry for flesh. She let out a loud moan and raised her arms stumbling towards Alyssa. Kevin raised his pistol, hesitating only for a second. A booming gunshot startled the survivors in the other room, and Helen slumped over dead, a bullet hole in her forehead.

The small group sat stunned for a second, no one moving or speaking. Trevor broke the silence. "She...She was just like one of them. She tried to eat George!" he cried, loud enough for everyone to hear. Numerous cries rattled the small break room, the survivors rushing in the doorway trying to get a glimpse of the carnage. Alyssa quickly ran over to Lisa, still sitting in the corner.

"Lisa, Lisa! Talk to me!" Alyssa cried. Lisa just simply stared into the distance, her red,puffy eyes not even being able to blink. Her light green jacket lay next to her, revealing a blue, sweat soaked blouse. Her shoulder length brown hair was completely ruined, almost looking like she just woke up and crawled out of bed. Alysaa cradled her, not knowing what else to do. "It's going to be ok..." she whispered, waving the others away.

As the others gathered in the break room, the yelling and arguing started like sudden earthquake.

"What the hell happened!" cried Jim. "She fucking turned into one of them! She tried to eat George!" Lauren yelled back. "That's impossible!" Yoko gasped. "She was bitten, she must have got some kind of disease, just like those other monsters!" Kevin stated. He was clearly starting to lose his composure. "Those rotting fucks are not a 'disease', they're somthing else entirely different." Mark said. "Disease!?" Clint cried. "I was bitten...No, I can't turn into one of them! I fucking won't!" he yelled, pacing back and forth in panic. "Don't fucking say that!" Jess argued. "You're nothing compared to those cannibals, you're not going to become one!"

_Will you?_

"That kid was bitten, And about what about him?" Jim shouted, pointing at Bob. "What's going to happen to them?" That question stopped all conversations dead in their tracks. The group turned and looked at Bob, seemingly passed out, and then at Clint, frozen in fear. "We're not leaving anyone behind." Kevin stated firmly. Mark agreed with him. "Yeah, no one gets left behind, no matter what." David stepped forward. "What's gonna happen when they try to eat our guts out then huh?" "That's not going to happen!" George cried. "If we can them to a hospital, then we can take care of them, they'll be ok." George questioned himself, wondering whether that was true. The room exploded once more into argument. As the others yelled and squabled, Clint sank down against the back wall. "Jess..." he whispered, motioning for to Jess to come over to him. He was shaking uncontrollably, his voice quivering with every word he spoke. "I'm not going to-" "No." Jess interuppted. "You're gonna be ok. I promise." Jess stated. Clint seemed unconvinced. "George is right, we'll get out of here, and we'll go to a hospital. I'm positive they can help." Clint seemed silent for a moment.

"You promise?" he whispered.

Jess hesitated. "Promise."

"Ok people, listen up!" Kevin shouted above the sea of voices. "HEY! SHUT UP!" the room fell quiet, all eyes on Kevin. "It's clear we can't stay here. We're gonna go up to the roof, and figure out a way down." he annouced. Most of the survivors yelled in protest.

"What!? No way man, what if more of those freaks are on the roof?" Jim whined. "Listen man, we have no food, no water, no back-up on the way." Kevin argued back. "Have you not seen the shit going on? Did you see the way those...those _things_ tore that waiter up? And that lady, she turned into one of them too!" Trevor cried.

_Those things..._

That sentence struck Jess, prompting images to form in his mind he didn't want to remember.

_Those people...What the fuck happened to them? Most of them shouldn't have even been alive! They were rotting corpses, they shouldn't be moving, eating...It's a goddamn nightmare..._

Jess closed his eyes in disgust. He could see those_ things _clearly, the pale skin falling off, the blood soaked bodies, the chunks of flesh missing, the horrible smell, and finally their eyes. Those eyes that were devoid of life. Those eyes that saw a group of human beings as prey, rabbits waiting to be eaten by coyotes. Jess had the urge to throw up.

_Those people...Aren't people. Not anymore. They're corpses. Monsters. Zombies. _

Kevin was still trying to convince the group to move. "Listen, we can't argue about it right now, we have more sick people, they need to be helped too!" More outcrys, Jim arguing back. "Hell no! There's got to be a better way. I'm not getting eaten alive-" Jim was cut off with a slap in his face from Cindy, knocking him to the ground. "Shut up! Just shut up!" Cindy yelled, tears stremming down her face. George quickly ran over to her, putting an arm around her and started comforting her. Jim whimpered on the floor, clearly about to soil his pants. "I don't wanna die..." he muttered. "I'm with him!" Lauren cried. "We're perfectly fine here, I'm not going outside with those cannibals around!" There was no answer to her remark, until Alyssa came into the room, quick to leap down her throat. "Then you can stay here and die! These guys are right, we can't stay here!" Lauren quickly countered "What the hell do you know, huh? You don't care about anyone besides yourself!" Alysaa retorted in anger. "At least I'm not a stupid bitch who wants to die!" Lauren took a step towards Alyssa. Before she could reach her, Kevin quickly stepped in between them. "Stop! We don't need you two killing each other. We need to work together!" Lauren spoke first. "Whatever. I'm not moving, not with _her_ around." Lauren glared daggers at Alyssa, who in return gave her a rude hand gesture. "He's right, no more fighting. Everyone has a choice." Mark spoke, loud and clear. "Either you can stay here, and hope those freaks don't break through downstairs, or you can at least try to survive, because that's what's going on. We're fighting to survive." He finished. The small group went silent, each person thinking about what decision they were going to make. To Jess, it was clear that Clint and him had to go with Kevin and get help.

Mark kneeled down in front of Bob. "Hey Bob...Wake up man...I need your gun Bob..." Mark said softly. Bob looked up and around at the small crowd staring at him, and without a word handed over his handgun. "Any ammo too." Bob stretched around behind him, grabbing a spare clip for the handgun. Mark nodded and walked over to the reporters. "Ma'am, do you know how to use this?" Mark asked Lauren first. She gave him a disgusted look. "Hell no. Why would I need to use one of those things?" "Because if you haven't noticed, there are crazies down there who are trying to kill us, and we need to defend ourselves." Mark stated, his patience running thin. Lauren turned away. "I'm not using that." she stated, turning away. Mark looked at Alyssa. She walked off towards the drawing room before he could speak. He looked around the room again, spotting Jess. Jess looked up at Mark, then at the handgun.

_No, not me..._

"Here kid, take it." Jess hesitated. "I don't know how to use it either." he said, hopeing Mark would give it to someone else. "Well you're gonna learn." Mark extended the handgun further, and Jess took it.

The cold steel felt very alien to Jess's skin, having never touched a gun before. Mark handed him the spare clip, and Jess put it in his front pocket. Jess looked over the handgun. It was a simple 9mm M9 Beretta. It was loaded, though the safety was on at the moment.

"Now, hear's how you use-" Mark started, but was cut off from a crash downstairs.

_KA-BOOM! THUD!_

The survivors looked at each other, panic and fear in their eyes. The barricade downstairs broke.

**Author's Note: Well, there's chapter three. I hope you enjoyed it, and if you would be so kind please give me a review on your thoughts about how the story is going, so I can see what people think :) Thanks, and as always ****constructed criticism and spelling/grammer help are always welcome **


	4. Out of the Frying Pan, Into the Fire

**Hell is only the Beginning**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to the Resident Evil series**

_Chapter 4: Out of the Frying Pan, Into the Fire_

Panic and fear ran throughout the small group, causing screams and shouts from everyone. Kevin quickly ran over to the door leading to the wine cellar, trying the door knob. "Jesus, it's locked!" he cried, banging his fist on the wooden door. "Move!" Mark shouted. He braced himself, ramming his shoulder into the door. The door shook violently against his might, but it stood firm. "Cindy, where's the key?" George asked. "I have no idea!" Cindy replied. Dozens of moans could be heard from the stairs, the zombies slowly but surely climbing the flight of stairs.

"Oh man! We're fucked!" Jim shouted, any trace of his self-control gone. "Move it people! I've got a lockpick!" Alyssa shouted, pushing her way towards the door and reaching into her back pocket. Lauren crossed her arms. "Why am I not surprised?" Alyssa was quick to reply. "Go to hell!". She knelt down in front of the door, pulling out her small instrument and inserting it into the keyhole. "Hurry up!" David shouted. "Dammit people, give me some room!" Alyssa yelled over her shoulder. "Well just remember that we're about to be a goddamn midnight snack if you don't hurry!" Trevor shouted. "I've got to get Lisa!" George shouted, quickly running to the drawing room. "Please help!" Mark called out, trying to raise Bob off of the ground. Cindy quickly stepped forward. "Let me help." she let Bob put an arm around her, and stood in the back of the small group, holding Bob.

The room fell silent, save for the restless breathing, and the sounds of shuffling feet down the hallway. Kevin and Mark took up a position in front of Alyssa, guns raised. Trevor quickly fumbled for the shotgun shells in his vest pocket, trying to load them into the gun as quickly as he could. "Goddamn, I could use a drink right now..." he muttered to himself. Behind the trio, Alyssa worked furiously, David directly behind her, revolver at gunpoint. Behind him, Jim, Lauren, Yoko, Jess, Clint, Cindy and Bob. The drawing room door opened, and Lisa stepped out, George behind her guiding her with a hand on her shoulder.

"What's the hold up?" Kevin asked Alyssa. "I'm working!" she shouted back. "Work faster!" David scowled. Alyssa twisted and turned her lockpick, trying every which direction in order to unlock the door. "Come on..." she muttered. Her concentration was broken momentarilly with a blood-curling scream from Lisa. The first zombie had reached the hallway barricade. It moaned in frustration, and began pounding on the wodden boards blocking its way. More undead joined the first one, pushing and slamming each other against the barricade, desperete for flesh. "Don't shoot yet!" Kevin cried. "Wait until you can get a clear shot." Jess gripped his handgun tightly, sunddenly feeling a certain attachment to it. Clint looked at him with uncertainy and despair in his eye. "Hey kid! Where are you?" Trevor shouted over the furious banging noise. Jess hesitated, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath before pushing through the small crowd, standing before Trevor. "Get your ass up here!" he shouted, kneeling down in front of Jess and David. Jess looked at the monstrosities before him. They banged and moaned, the boards creaking under the pressure of every hit. Jess gave the handgun one last lookover, flipping a small switch which he assumed was the safety. He slowly raised the weapon, trying to keep a steady hand.

_I can't shoot them...They're people...I think...I mean...They have lives, familes and jobs and..._

"Aim for the head!" Kevin shouted, focusing on his target. "Oh god no!" Lisa shouted, seeing the ghouls down the hall. She turned to run, but George grabbed her, holding her tightly. "No Lisa! You have to wait!" She struggled against him even more. "NO! I won't! Let me go!" she screamed, tears once again streaming down her face. "Someone get her under control!" Mark yelled back. A loud crash resonated throughout the room. The first board broken, wavering arms filling in the empty space. "Goddamn it woman! Hurry up!" David shouted. A second crash, and then a third. The top half the the boards were destroyed, zombies pushing and piling themselves in the gap. "Fire!" Mark cried. Numerous gunshots filled the small hallway as the cannibals were cut down in a storm of hot lead. Jess closed his eyes and pulled the trigger. The handgun almost jumped from his hand. He had gripped the gun with a solid grip, but he was unprepared for the recoil. He took a step back, and opened his eyes. Corpses were piled in the small hallway, but for every one monster killed, another jumped in it's place. His heart racing, Jess tightened his grip around the gun, squeezing off more rounds.

"I've got it!" Alyssa shouted, standing up and opening the door. It led directly into another staircase, with another door at the top of the stairs. "I told you I could do it!" Alyssa shouted, running up the stairs and into the wine cellar. Jim was second, followed by Yoko, Lauren, Clint and then Cindy, supporting Bob. "I'm out!" Kevin cried, searching his pockets for another clip, coming up empty. "Go now!" David cried, firing the revolver in place of Kevin. "Doc, let's go!" Kevin yelled above the gunfire. George ushered Lisa forward, hurrying through the door at the sight of the cannibals. Kevin patted Mark on the shoulder, a signal for him to move out. "Let's go!" he cried, coving Jess, Trevor and David as the ascened the small flight of stairs. Mark quickly shut the door and locked it again. With no more resistance, the zombies quickly shuffled down the hall, banging in frustration on the survivor's exit.

As Cindy led the way through the huge cellar, the group turned a corner, ran down a 25-foot hallway, and then turned another corner, coming to the end of the cellar. Against the far wall were two seperate shelves full of liquor, one with a small ladder on the side of it, and a forklift parked inbetween them, boxes ready to be lifted. Next to the shelves was a closed emergancy shutter, blocking their only other escape route. "The shutter! The shutter is down!" Cindy cried. "How do we get it up?" George asked. "We would have to open it from the other side." Cindy replied. "What do we do now?" Yoko questioned. "Kevin, David come on!" Mark cried, running back through the cellar. "You guys figure out a way to get that shutter open. We'll hold those freaks off!" he cried before disappering around the corner, Kevin and David following. Cindy set Bob down against the forklift. "Knock it down." Clint shouted, ramming his shoulder into the shutter. It didn't seem to phase the barrier at all. The small group followed him, ramming and kicking the shutter, producing only minor dents and scratches.

Meanwhile, Kevin, Mark, and David ran back to the stairwell door, opening it and seeing the undead already beginning to ascend the stairs. They quickly closed the door, locking it and bracing themselves against it. Not too soon, the undead slammed themselves against the door. The three men held the door, but every hit became more and more powerful, until the vibrations knocked the men away from the door. "Shit! There's too many!" Mark cried, still trying to hold the door with every amount of his might. Yoko and Jess came running around the corner to face them.

"We cant open the shutter! It's too big!" Jess cried. Yoko let out a small yelp as the door violently shook again, the three men temporarily thrown away from the door again. "You guys had better find a way quick!" Kevin cried. "Use those barrels!" Yoko cried, pointing to a couple of kegs packed away in the corner. David left the door, motioning for Jess to help him move the barrels. The door shook violently, causing the lock and knob to break. A boney hand stuck through the small gap, grabbing on to Mark's shoulder with a lethel grip. "Help!" he cried, trying to shake the arm off and hold the door at the same time.

"It's no use! That damn thing isn't coming down anytime soon!" Trevor yelled, backing away from the shutter. The survivors backed away in defeat, observing the little damage done against the barrier. "Lift it up from underneath!" Jim yelled. "We can't get our fingers under it." Alyssa replied. "No! I can't die here!" Lisa cried. The small group began to panic, not knowing what else to do. As Lauren was looking around the room, she spotted a small air vent on the far wall, no shutter covering it. She pointed to the vent, shouting for the other's attention. "We just need to get on the shelves, then we can crawl through it!" she yelled. "We need to raise the boxes to fill the gap!" George shouted. "Cindy, where's the key?" Trevor asked. "I don't know, I never have to use the forklift." she replied back, panic riddled across her face. "...Is it this key?" Bob muttered, holding up a key with a small red tag attached to it. "I found it right here on the floor." he said. The group looked in disbelief at Bob. "Great job Bob!" Trevor shouted with excitment, swipping the key from his hand and inserting it into the forklift. The engine stuttered, and then roared to life.

"Those barrels won't hold for long!" Mark shouted, checking his current clip in his handgun. "It doesn't matter, come on!" Kevin yelled running back down the corridor to the other survivors. "What if they didn't find a way?" Yoko cried, the fear in her voice evident. "Then-" a crash cut Kevin off from replying, prompting them to run faster. Jess ran behind David, who stopped for a moment, grabbing a bottle of liquor from the shelves lining the wall, one bottle in each hand. Jess ran past him, looking back in time to see him smashing the bottles to the ground, creating a pool of alcohol. "Hey!" Jess stopped and called out to him. "Come on!" David ignored him, smashing more bottles on the ground. the first zombie rounded the corner, moaning and stumbling towards it's next victim. More corpses joined the first one, crying out as they shambled down the corridor. After smashing another bottle, David turned and called out to Jess. "Give me your gun!" he yelled. Jess quickly ran back and handed the gun to David. David pushed Jess backwards and shot the pool with a single bullet, igniting the corridor in a fiery blaze. He shoved the handgun back in Jess's hand and began to run. "See how those rotting fucks like that!" He said. Jess ran after him, not knowing whether to be amazed or sickened.

"Why did you use my gun?" he questioned. David smirked. "I didn't want to waste any of my ammo." he stated. Jess couldn't help but laugh. "You bastard..." As the two men rounded the corner, they saw the survivors climbing the ladder on the side of the shelf, crawling to the open vent on the other side on the shelves. "Come on!" Clint cried, stopping his crawl to yell at Jess. "Keep moving!" Alyssa shouted from behind him. He ignored her but continued on. "Move it!" Kevin yelled, waiting for everyone to ascend the ladder. Yoko quickly climbed the ladder, and then Jess. Behind him, David climbed up, and then Kevin. "Shit!" he heard Kevin say, looking back to see the zombies turn the corner, most of them lit up on fire. The fire didn't seem to affect them at all, in fact it only made the smell coming from them worse. Jess gagged, and quickened his pace. Three gunshots rang throughout the room. Mark motioned for Kevin to go on. Kevin waited for David to move, and climbed up onto the shelf himself. More gunshots, and then a clear _click-click_ was heard. "Dammit!" Mark cursed, grabbing the ladder. As he climbed, a zombie got close enough to grab his ankle, stopping him in his tracks.

"Ahh! Help!" He shouted, struggling to hold onto the rails. Kevin turned around, grabbing on to Mark's arm and trying to pull him back. Mark kicked and squirmed, but the zombies hand just wouldn't let go. "Trevor!" Yoko cried. Trevor stopped, and looked back at Yoko. "Help him!" She cried out. Trevor leaned his body over to edge, pointing his shotgun towards the ladder. "It's no good! I'd hit Mark!" he cried back. Kevin pulled and tugged at Mark, but he wasn't able to shake the cannibal off. More hands reached and groped into the air, eager for their next meal. "Please! Kevin, don't let me go!" he screamed, his grip beginning to fail. "I'm not letting you go!" Kevin screamed, a burst of adrenaline surging through his veins, pulling Mark with all of his strength. The survivors still on the shelves stared in awe and horror. Mark kicked his legs, hitting his attacker in the face. The zombie loosened it's grip on Mark, and he was able to pull himself up onto the shelf. Out of breath and panting, he nodded to Kevin, the gratitude clear in his eyes. Kevin smiled back, patting Mark on the shoulder. "Let's go." he said, crawling forward.

When Jess crawled out of the small vent, he found himself on the middle of a flight of stairs, the bottom exit blocked by the steel shutter. George gave him a hand, helping him up. "Go on, the others are on the roof." He pointed upwards. Jess began to climb the stairs, when a loud thud rocked the shutter. More thuds, and Jess and George looked in horror at each other, realizing that the zombies were going to break down the steel barrier any moment. The shutter was weakened from the blows of the survivors, and the combined weight of so many bodies was too much for the shutter. "Go!" George ordered, helping David up on his feet as he crawled out of the vent. Jess ran up the stairs, and exited out through the only door at the top of the stairs. The cool night air hit Jess full force. He stopped and took a good whif of the air, feeling relived to breath in some other smell then rotting flesh. His breath of fresh air was cut short by Trevor. "Keep moving kid." He pushed Jess forward, apparently waiting for the rest of the gang to get on the roof. Jess followed the wall around a corner, and then to another storage building where the survivors were gathered. Along the way, Clint, Yoko and Lauren were tending to Bob, who was sitting against the wall. To Jess he wasn't looking too good. Jess walked past them coming to a dead end in front of the other building. The back of the sign that read _J's Bar_ was in front of them, a small walkway running along the sign blocked off by a metal fence. Cindy and Alyssa went into the small storage building looking for supplies, and re-emerged minutes later, Cindy carrying a first-aid spray and Alyssa carrying clip for a 9mm handgun. As Kevin, David, George and Mark exited onto the roof Trevor was quick to push an old jukebox in front of the door. Kevin stacked a pair of boxes on top of the old machine for good measure.

"Mark. Come here, Bob's not looking too good." Clint said. Mark knelt down by his best friend, shaking his head. "You guys go on ahead, I just need a moment." The small group nodded and left the two alone in peace. Mark shook his friend awake, trying hard to smile at his friend. Bob looked up, his skin color lost, his eyes devoid of life. Mark set his handgun down, and put his shoulder on Bob. "Come on man, we gotta keep moving." he stated softly. Bob shook his head. "I can't move anymore..." he took a deep breath. "I know me and...I'm not going to be anyone else's burden!" Bob grabbed Mark's handgun and pointed it at himself. He pulled the trigger.

_Click! _the gun was empty.

"No Bob!" Mark cried. "Mark...you don't understand. I'm...No different fron them. I feel the hunger." The words hit Mark like a ton of bricks. "No Bob. You can't be like them..." he trailed off, unsure of what to say. Mark looked at the ground for a moment, and then back at Bob. He gasped. Bob wasn't moving anymore, his body finally gave up on him. "Bob..." he whispered, tears forming in his eyes. Mark grabbed his handgun, and put it back in his hip holster. He wiped away his tears, and began to walk back to rejoin the other survivors when he heard a shuffling sound behind him. He stopped and turned around, his jaw dropping in shock.

Bob stood up, his head bowed down. he slowly looked up at Mark, and let a low, sick moan escape from his lips. He stumbled towards Mark, arms outstretched, his eyes the same milky white color as the rest of those monsters.

Mark stumbled back, unsure of what to do. "Bob no..." Mark let the tears fall freely from his eyes, unable to kill his best friend. Bob stumbled towards Mark, letting out a louder moan then before. The survivors were mostly quiet, so when they heard that moan they realized what had happened. David pulled out his revolver and turned the corner first, seeing Bob stumbling towards Mark. "Get down!" he shouted, aiming the gun at Bob. Mark tripped back over his own feet, landing on his rear. A single gunshot pierced the night air, followed by a blood-curling scream.

"BOOOOOOOOOOB!"

Alyssa and George quickly ran over to Mark to console him. "I'm sorry for your friend Mark, but we have to keep moving." George placed a comforting hand on Mark's shoulder. "He's right Mark, you don't want to have him die in vain do you?" Alyssa spoke softly. The two helped him stand up, and walked him over to a corner of the roof to comfort him. Jess looked at Clint, a desperate look in his eyes. No one admitted the truth, but Bob had turned into one of them, just like Helen did. Jess was worried that his friend would become like one of them too. "Holy shit, what the hell do we do now?" Jim whined, throwing his hands up in the air. "It's a goddamn dead end up here, nice going jackass!" Lauren shouted, glaring at Kevin. Kevin stayed silent, not knowing what to do next. "Maybe we can jump to the other building?" George annouced by pointing to other end of the catwalk behind the sign, which ran all the way to the edge of the building. "Jump? Are fucking kidding me?" Trevor shouted back, shaking his head. "I'm not jumping across a rooftop of all things." Lisa stated. "Doc's right, it's the only way to escape." Kevin stated, walking towards the metal fence blocking the walkway. "There's gotta be some other-" Clint pitched in, but a loud voice interrupted him. It seemed to becoming from the street down below from a man using a bullhorn.

"Attention everyone. Due to the riots in progress, this area will be closed off soon. If you do not make it here quickly, I cannot guarantee your safety."

The argurment was quickly forgotten, the survivor's decision unanimous. "We gotta move!" Kevin cried, running to the gate of the fence blocking the walkway. A small lock closed the fence, and Kevin cursed. He pointed at Jess. "Shoot it off!" Jess stepped forward, gripping the handgun and taking aim at the small lock. With a pull of the trigger, the lock was broken, and the gate swung open. The survivors ran across the walkway, Kevin first followed by Jess, Jim, Cindy, Lauren, Clint, Lisa and so on until Mark was the last man to climb up onto the walkway. Kevin reached the edge first, the gap between the two buildings wider then he liked. Taking a few steps back, he propelled himself through the air and caught the edge of the building, pulling himself up. He turned around a motioned for Jess to jump. Jess gulped and took a deep breath, jumping through the air. His body slammed hard against the building, and luckily, Kevin caught his arm before he fell down into the darkness below. Kevin pulled him up and over the edge. The process was repeated until the survivors were all across the gap. When all the survivors were together, they wasted no time entering the only door on the roof.

They entered into a small compact room with a single door and an elevator. Jim tried the door, but it was locked. "Damn it, there's no way out!" he cried. George stepped forward and pushed the 'UP" button, signaling the elevator to rise. "Mark, I almost forgot." Alyssa said, handing him the clip she found. Mark nodded and reloaded his handgun, aiming towards the elevator doors. The room was silent, waiting for the doors to open. Jess held his breath when the small ding went off, his mind just waiting for another monster to pop out of the doors. Nothing emerged from the elevator however, and the small group let of a sigh of relief. Mark, David, Yoko, Lisa, Cindy, and Jim quickly entered the elevator. "It has a weight limit." David stated when Lauren tried to enter the cramped elevator. Kevin nodded. "We'll go a few at a time." The elevator doors closed, and the group descended to the first level.

The elevator reached the first floor with no problems, and they group stepped out to a T-intersection hallway. Gun raised, Mark quickly turned the corner, checking both hallways for enemies. "All clear." he stated. The elevator doors closed and the engine rumbled as it ascended towards the top level. The small group turned left, and everyone except for Mark exited out of the building and onto the street.

Jess waited on the top level with Clint, Kevin, Lauren, George, Alyssa, and Trevor. The elevator doors opened again, and Kevin and George agreed to stay behind to allow everyone to go. Jess stepped into the elevator and crowded into the back with Clint. "We're almost outta this nightmare..." Clint said to himself. Jess smiled, the thought of going home and going straight to bed sounding great. The elevator doors opened, and they saw Mark waiting at the T-intersection. The group ran forward, eager to get to safety. As Jess passed Mark, he stopped Jess and grabbed his shoulder. "Hey kid, how are you doing on ammo?" he asked. "Umm, I still have the clip in my pocket." he answered. "How many bullet's do have left in your current clip?" Mark questioned. Jess looked at the handgun, unsure of how to check the current clip. He shrugged and looked to Mark for help. "Here, I'll show you to to properly use this thing." Mark took Jess's handgun and showed him the button that would eject his clip. Mark examined the clip. "Count the bullets, you've got six left, one more in the chamber.'' he stated, showing Jess the clip. Jess nodded, understanding what he meant. Mark slid the clip back into the gun and cocked it, ejecting the bullet. Jess caught it in mid-air and gave a questioning look to Mark.

"You always cock it when you enter a new clip, got it?" Jess nodded again, and put the single bullet in his pocket. Mark handed the gun back to Jess and pointed back towards the door outside. Jess let a small smile escape from his lips. "Thanks." he said. he waited, thinking he should say more. "Mark I..." Jess started. "I'm...sorry about your friend." Jess didn't know what else to say. Mark shook his head and looked back towards the elevator doors, waiting for Kevin and George. Jess hung his head and ran down the hallway.

_You idiot! Why did you have to say somthing?_

He opened the door and stepped out onto the streets of Raccon City.

**Author's Note: There's chapter 4, I hope you enjoyed it. Please give me a review on your thoughts and constructed criticism and spelling/grammer help are always welcome**


	5. Flight into Danger

**Hell is only the Beginning**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to the Resident Evil series**

_Chapter 5: Flight into Danger_

As Jess stepped out on to the street, he saw utter chaos unfolding before his eyes. About a block to his right, a small barricade of police cars were set up. More people were running and screaming past Jess, and as he looked beyond the fleeing citizens he could see dark shapes shambling towards the barricade. In front of Jess the survivors were gathered around a police car, and a single police officer was firing shots from his handgun into the oncoming crowd of cannibals.

"Hey Jess!" Jess heard his name being called by Clint, and walked over to him as he stood by the cruiser. Jess and Clint shared the same expression of worry and concern as they looked down the street at the zombies. "It's a massacre." Jess stated, gulping at the sight of the carnage before him. The two saw a few people who couldn't get away in time, and the zombies tackled them to the ground, tearing them limb from limb. Jess closed his eyes and looked away. He didn't want to see anymore bloodshed tonight. "I guess there are more then we thought." Clint replied. The dark shapes in the distance created a wall, one that the survivors had no hope of breaking through. The small group stood by the police officer, waiting for his direction. As Kevin, George, and Mark rejoined the others, Kevin immediatly went over to talk to the officer.

"Raymond!" he shouted, clearly glad to see his friend and fellow officer alive and well.

"Ryman? Shit, it's good to see you! I'm surprised you're still alive!" the man named Raymond shouted back. He was an older looking man, his face beginning to form wrinkles as his slicked back hair was starting to lose it's color. He was dressed in a typical policer officer uniform, with a macthing black cap. He emptied the rest of his clip into the darkness and then slapped a fresh clip in the gun. "No time to talk, it's a goddamn warzone out here!" Raymond ran over to the passanger side of his car and reached in, grabbing a SPAS-12 pump-action shotgun and loading his pockets with shotgun shells. "Kevin, move that police car over there and we'll form a barricade here. Now go!" he waved Kevin off before he had a chance to speak, but Kevin nodded and followed the older officer's orders. "Everyone, get back!" he shouted to the survivors. Kevin ran behind the group as they backed away from the cruiser and towarda a nearby set of closed wooden double doors leading into an alleyway. Kevin began to push another police cruiser behind the group, when David ran over to help. The two strong men were able to push the car forward, and when the car was touching the other cruiser, they stopped. Raymond's car was parked sideways towards and was backed up against the window of J's Bar. The other cruiser fit perfiectly between the building across the street and Raymond's car, ensuring no gaps for attackers to slip by. Kevin thanked David, and let out a sigh of relief. He was confident that those freaks weren't smart enough to climb over the cars.

"Raymond!" Kevin called after finishing his task. "Do you have any ammo? I'm out for my .45 and these people could use some too." Raymind reached for his handgun and tossed it to Kevin, along with two spare clips. "There should be some more in the car, but that's all I got." he said. Kevin opened the door, and rummaged through the glovebox, finding three more spare clips and a small first aid kit under the seat. He pulled the stash out and jogged over to the survivors to distripute the findings.

Jess saw the men forming a barricade, and he began thinking that maybe he wasn't going to safety just yet. The sight of Kevin distriputing ammo confirmed his fears. Kevin gave the first aid kit to Yoko to hold on to, and he gave Mark the three handgun clips. Trevor ran over to Raymond, who was in a firing position against the car. "Hey man, you got any spare ammo for me? I've got about four shells loaded, and I don't have any left." Raymond eyed Trevor for a moment, and then reached into his pocket, pulling out a handful of shells. "That's all I can spare. You better put them to good use yeah?" Raymond pointed to a spot next to himself, and Trevor nodded, taking up a firing position next to Raymond. He loaded four more shells into his shotgun, and then pocketed the other six.

"Anyone else who's got a weapon get up here!" Raymond barked. "Everyone else, stay over there." Jess's jaw dropped open for a moment. "He's making us fight?" Jess muttered, taking a deep breath. Clint put a comforting hand on Jess's shoulder. "It's ok Jess. I'll take the gun if you want." Clint seemed to have read his mind. Jess was silent, comtemplating the offer. He finally spoke. "No Clint, I...I'll fight." Jess looked at the ground and then at the pistol. "I...I couldn't help you before, when you were bitten, but I'm going to help now." Jess's gaze met Clint's. "But it's not your fault-" Jess shook his head, interrupting Clint. "You don't understand Clint, I've felt more helpless in the past hour then I have in almost my entire life. I'm tired of it. Everytime those fuckers would pick on me, you've been there, so I just want to return the favor you know?" Clint shook his head, not wanting to remember all the times Jess was bullied in school. "Ok, but..." Jess cut Clint off again. "It's like, I've told Leanna that I'd be there for her, but last year..." Clint held up a hand to stop Jess. "I thought we got past that." he questioned. Jess looked away. "You know me, I have a hard time letting go-" Raymond's voice interrupted him. "Kid, get up here now!" Jess met Clint's eyes again, and Clint gave Jess a 'Don't do anything stupid' look. Jess ran over to the makeshift barricade, and stood next to Mark.

_I can't...I won't let my friends down, not this time_

Painful memories began to surfuce from Jess's mind, but he closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Mark patted him on the shoulder. "Don't worry, it'll be ok..." Jess was unconviced, partially because it sounded like Mark wasn't sure of those words himself.

The crowd of zombies grew closer, so close that Jess could start to make out the features of each corpse. There men and woman of all shapes and sizes. Some were dressed in buiness suits, others in casual clothes fit for lounging around the house. Jess saw constructions workers, retail employees, a taxi driver, people that used to live everyday normal lives. The only thing they had in common was the crimson color covering parts of their bodies, either from previous victims or their own wounds. They shambled and moaned towards the survivors, arms outstrenched and colorless eyes eyeing the prize that awaited them. "Jesus Raymond, there's too many of them! We can't kill them all!" Kevin cried. "We have to try and stop them Kevin! We can't let them get Uptown!" Raymond replied. Jess's conviction changed. He steadied himself against the oncoming storm, his mind set on not letting those monsters past get past him to spread even more dread and death.

As the crowd drew closer, the group behind the barricade was starting to lose control. "Holy shit! Look how many of them there are!" Jim cried, looking for a way to open the double doors. The door handle had a chain around it, a silver lock preventing anyone from entering. "What are we gonna do?" Cindy cried. "We just have to wait." George tried to soothe the fear-ridden people. "What if those monsters get past them?" Lisa argued back. "I can't die! I'm not ready!" she cried, tears stremming down her face. George put her arm around her. "Don't worry, it will be ok." He said with a forced smile. Lisa fell to her knees sobbed uncontrollablly. Alyssa came over to help George consolt her and calm her down. "People, we just need to stay calm!" Clint shouted above the noise. "Are you kidding me? Have you not seen those goddamn freaks or what?" Jim shouted. Yoko was taking deep breaths, trying to control her breathing. The fear was clear in her eyes, but she said nothing.

"Fuck this!" Lauren shouted above the chaos. "You all can go to hell! I'm not waiting for one of you to turn into a cannibal and kill me!" Lauren shouted. She ran away from the group towards the barricade, her mind set in a mixture of determination and panic. "Wait!" Alyssa shouted. "Stop you stupid bitch!" she cried standing up to run after her.

The zombies were only about 20 feet away from the barricade. "Wait 'till I give the order!" Raymond barked, taking aim with his SPAS-12. Jess pulled the hammer back on the pistol and took a deep breath, aiming the pistol towards the crowd. He stook slow, deep breaths and tried to steady his hand, but his heart was racing, his hand still shaking. Jess aimed towards an overweight man, his tank top splattered with blood from his neck wound. His stomach was torn open, his intestines and organs spilling out as he shambled. Jess focused on the head of the corpse, remembering Kevin's words back in the bar.

"Open fire!" Raymond cried.

Like a firing squad shooting prisoners, the men opened fire simultaneously, sending hot lead into the oncoming crowd. Jess squeezed the trigger. The flash of the muzzle came and went, but the zombie was still standing. Jess blinked. He missed. He fired again, this time hitting the cannibal in the chest. and then again finally downing the zombie with a headshot. He turned towards a woman in a cook's outfit, and fired upon her too. Corpses dropped and the bodies piled in front of the barricade. It seemed hopeful that they would repel the assualt. Jess killed two more zombie before his gun clicked empty. He pressed the button on the side of the gun, ejecting the clip. He fumbled in his jean pockets, grabbing hold of the cold clip and slipping it into the gun. He gripped the slide and pulled back, using his muscle to cock the gun. He aimed and pulled the trigger one more time before David stumbled into him, knocking Jess off balance. When Jess turned to look in anger, he realized why David ran into him.

"Stop!'' Alyssa yelled, running after Lauren. She was fast on her feet and in the blink of an eye, she ran over to the second police cruiser. She pushed David aside, and opened the passanger seat door, climbing in and slamming the door shut. She slammed down on the door lock before looking for the keys. "What the hell?" David shouted, prompting the other survivors to turn and look. "What the hell? Stop her!" Kevin cried, running up to the car door. Lauren quickly slipped into the driver's seat and looked for the keys. When none were to be found, she opened the visor and a ring of keys fell into her lap. "Yes!" she shouted to herself. She tried the different keys, luck being on her side. Slaps and bangs hit the window, but she ignored them. "Don't you do it! Don't you fucking drive off and leave us!" Alyssa screamed, slapping the car window and trying the door handle, anything to get her out of there.

"Move it!" Raymond yelled, using the butt of his shotgun to smash open the window. It was too late though. The engine roared to life, and Lauren shifted the car into reverse. She drove the car backwards, until she was past the wooden double doors. Then with a screech of the tires she wheeled forward, slamming into the other car and driving down the street. The survivors stood in complete shock, unable to believe what just happened. They saw bodies flying off of the car, hearing the sickly _thudds_ of skulls hitting pavement, and then with a quick turn of the corner seeing it disapper into the night.

"THAT STUPID FUCKING WHORE!" Alyssa screamed. She kicked and screamed in frustration. "She called _me_ selfish? I hope she dies! I hope she rots in hell!" Alyssa was red in the face, her eyes full of an anger Jess had never seen before in his life. "Move it!" David yelled, grabbing her around the arm and dragging her away. She twisted and shouted,cursing Lauren and the situation. "Why the fuck did this have to happen tonight of all nights!?" Since the men were preoccupied with Lauren's theft, the zombies were able to come closer to the now destroyed barricade. They had reached the patrol car, and because there was no second car blocking the way they simply walked around the car. Gunshots immediatly rang out again, but the crowd of zombies was going to be too much with no barrier blocking the way. Realizing this, Raymond turned and ran towards the double doors.

"Oh god, they're getting too close. Come on!" he shouted to the remaining individuals. He fumbled with a set of keys, trying to remain calm while he figured out the right key. David fired his revolver into the face of an oncoming zombie, and then his gun ran empty. "I'm out!" he called, reaching into his toolbelt and pulling out a rather large wrench. He tossed it at the closest zombie and it hit the monster in the head, caving the skull in and killing it. "Get back freak!" Kevin delivered a swift kick to the stomach of a woman, sending her reeling back into another three zombies. He raised his handgun and fired four quick and lethal shots, dropping the four zombies to the pavment.

Raymond unlocked the lock, and pulled the chain away from the door handles. "Let's go!" he shouted, running first through the doorway. As he ran down the alleyway, he reached the end of the alleyway and came to another set of double doors. He grabbed the handle and shook the door violently, realizing it was locked. Kevin and Mark were last through the door way and closed the set of double door just in time. The zombies banged and moaned against the door, but Kevin grabbed the chain and lock that Raymond dropped, and wrapped it around the door's handles. After it was locked, the two stepped back in triumph and ran to meet Raymond. Trash cans and discarded junk filled the alleyway, but as the survivors ran through, Jim stopped as he spotted a iron pipe on the ground, and armed himself with it. Cindy too found a melee weapon, an aluminum baseball bat, but she was no fighter. She was a waitress and the most popular employee at _J's Bar_. She didn't want to fight, muchless kill. She called out to George, who accepted the weapon with a smile and 'thank you'.

"Shit, the doors locked. I'm going to blast through!" Raymond called out, aiming his shotgun at the door. With a thunderous blast, the door shook and the wood cracked. Raymond however was amazed that the shells only barely pierced the wood. "This is going to take awhile, hold on!" he said to the survivors behind him. A scream piercied the air, and the group turned to Lisa, who was pointing behind them. "They're crawling under the door!" she shrieked. Lisa was right, the zombies were crawling through small ducts on each side of the door. "Oh my life is shit!" Jim whined, clutching his pipe for dear life. Several zombie already stood up and were making their way down the alley. Kevin charged forward, and everyone with a weapon followed him with the exception of Jim. Yoko, Jim, Cindy, Clint, Lisa, and Alyssa stood away from the door to avoid flying door fragments. Alyssa was still shouting profanitys.

The small group ran about halfway down the alley before stopping to take aim at the undead. By now, there were over a dozen corpses stumbling towards them, and more were coming. Jess steadied his aim on the nearest zombie and squeezed the trigger twice, the first shot missing and the second hitting it in the neck, snapping it's head back. He mentally counted his shots, beginning with 13 and counting down to 12. David pulled out his small folding knife and waited for a zombie to close in on him. When it reached him, it lunged towards him, but David was ready. He side-stepped the lunge, and jammed the knife into the back of the zombie's skull, killing it instantly. Another zombie lunged for him, and he ducked the arms. He lost his balance however, and fell to the ground. The zombie moaned and toppled on top of him, grabbing his shoulders and tugging at his neck. David grunted and wrestled with the zombie. Half of it's face was missing, it's putrid breath causing him to gag. He pushed and shoved, hopeing to make enough room to punch the zombie, but the monster was incredibly strong, winning the struggle slowly but surely.

"Help! I need help!" he cried. Jess pointed his gun towards David, but Trevor was quick to pull it down. "Stop, you'll hit him!" Trevor argured, turning around and blasting a zombie in half with his shotgun. "We gotta help him!" Jess cried. They watched in horror as David wreslted and sturggled, but it was an uphill battle. Alyssa was watching the struggle and ripped the pip from Jim's hands. She charged foward and with a cry, she slammed the weapon down in the back of the creature, smashing it's spine and stunning it momentarily. This was David's opportunity. With a swift punch he broke the zombie's jaw, and was able to push the corpse off of himself. Alyssa brought the pipe over her head, and with a quick _pow! _brought it down on the zombies head, caving it in. She breathed a sigh of relief. She extened a hand to David, who looked up at her and accepted it, pulling himself off the ground. He let out a rare smile. "Thanks."he muttered. Alyssa returned the smile. "No problem." She paused for a moment. "I'm not gonna _her_ be responsible for anyone's death." Gunshots brought the two back to reality. "Watch out for yourselves!' Mark shouted, dropping two zombies that were lumbering towards the couple.

"Hey man, what's the damn hold up?" Jim shouted at Raymond, still firing shots at the doors. "Shut up!' he barked back. "Please!" Lisa pleaded. "Get the door open! They're being overrun!" Raymond took a quick glance behind him, seeing numerous more zombies then humans. He aimed at the door, pulling the trigger.

_Click!_

Raymond closed his eyes and cursed himself. He reached in his pockets, breathing a sigh of relief when he felt the plastic shells against his fingers. He pulled out another eight shells. "This needs to work, I'm running too low on ammo..." he muttered to himself. Saying a silent prayer to God, he aimed and pulled the trigger.

_CRAAACK!_

Raymond blinked, a grin forming on his face. With a mighty kick he shoved the set of double doors wide open. "Let's go, now!" he shouted, beckoning for the survivors. Raymond quickly ran forward through the doorway, followed by Jim, Yoko, Cindy, Clint and so on until Kevin and Mark were last, slamming the doors shut and bracing themselves against them. When Jess went through the doorway, he found himself and the others survivors on the edge of a small waterway canal. Against the right wall was a fuel tanker, and down the alleyway was yet another set of wooden double doors, and a horde of zombies.

Raymond was surrounded, and he knew. He charged forward recklessly and the zombies were closing in on him fast. He blasted two zombies, and realized he led the survivors into a death trap. He turned around for a moment. "Kevin, get out of here! Get these people to safety!" he blasted another zombie. Kevin quickly ran to help him, but was stopped by Mark. "He's right, we have to go!" Kevin struggled and pushed Mark away. "I have to help him!" he shouted. This time, George and David grabbed him, restraining him with the best of their might. "No Kevin!" George cried, trying to calm him down. "Let me go! I need to help him!" Kevin struggled, pulling and squirming. Trevor ran up and had to grab Kevin around the waist to stop him. "Goddamn it! Get yourself under control!" Trevor yelled. Kevn pulled and tugged, his gut instinct screaming for him to help. He had always wanted to protect and serve and when lives were in danger, especially a fellow officer's, he had to at least try.

Jess watched the scene unfold before him, unsure of what to do next. Raymond was yelling orders at Kevin while he was holding the undead at bay. He continued to fight, despite being overwhelmed. He waved the survivors away. "Goddamn it I said go! Don't worry about me!" Raymond was about to blast another zombie he stopped, his gaze drawn towards the fuel tank next to the survivors. As he opened his mouth to speak, a zombie tackled him to the ground, throwing his shotgun from his hands and out of reach.

"No!" Kevin shouted, finally breaking free from the three men. He raised his weapon, firing shots at the zombies around Raymond. When he aim at Raymond, Mark quickly grabbed the gun. "Stop it Kevin, you'll hit him!" he yelled. "I don't care! I have to save him!" Kevin shouted back. Raymond struggled with the zombie, trying to push up from underneath, but it was no good. Raymond was too tired, and he knew he was gong to lose the struggle. "The fuel tank!" he shouted. "Leak the gas, use it to burn these freaks!" he yelled. Using one of his hands, he reached into his back pocket, pulling out a silver lighter. Raymond gave one final push, using the rest of his might and flipped over onto his stomach. Lighter in hand, he was about to throw it when the zombie finally sank it's teeth into the back of his neck. "AHHHH!" he screamed, dropping the lighter. The zombie ripped the flesh from his bone, and bit into his windpipe, silencing his screams for good.

The survivors stopped, and watched in horror as Raymond was devoured by the living dead. "RAYMOND!" Kevin screamed, running forward and soccer kicking the zombie on Raymond's body right in the head. The force of the kick was so hard that the zombies head snapped back, dislodging itself from the body and rolling a few feet away from the carnage. More zombies closed in on Kevin, but he shot them all away with his handgun, emptying the clip completely. He grabbed the silver lighter and Raymond's shotgun, still blasting zombies back to Hell. "Damn it Kevin, get back here!" Mark shouted, covering Kevin as best as he could. "You motherfuckers!"Kevin screamed, emptying the remaning shells into the horde. Jess stood there in shock, unable to think about what to do now. A scream next to him snapped him back to reality.

"Oh god, help!" Yoko screamed.

Jess gasped in horror as Yoko fell to her knees, a skinny pair of hands grabbing her legs from underneath the fuel truck. "Help!" she cried, her hands trying to find a hold on the smooth pavement. Cindy and Jess grabbed hold of her arms, pulling her with all of their might. She didnt seem to even budge though, and she cried out in pain. Clint grabbed hold of her too, and with a roar used his good arm to pull her out from underneath the truck. Yoko wasn't free yet though. The zombie, a female woman, was still clinging to her ankles, and crawled towards Yoko, grabbing her legs and opening her mouth wide. Jess quickly kicked it right in the mouth, shattering the fragile jaw. "Help!" Clint shouted towards the armed men, smashing his foot down the zombie's head. Mark and Kevin were shooting the oncoming wave of zombies from the front, so Trevor came back to see what the problem was. Another zombie quickly crawled out from under the truck and Trevor pumped the shotgun, pulling the trigger again. "They're coming from behind!' he shouted at the others. Kevin fired another round at an oncoming zombie, blowing it's legs out from underneath it. He pulled the trigger again, but heard the all too familiar _click! _of the empty chamber. With a mighty roar, he slammed the butt of the shotgun on the zombie's head, sending skull fragments and brain matter splattering across the pavement.

"Damn it! We need to get out of here!" David yelled, chucking another wrench from his tool belt at an oncoming zombie. The survivors were backed into a corner. On their left was the canal, the water filthy looking and dirty. On the their right, the fuel tank and the doors they came through. The zombies were too numerous, with dozens coming from in front of the group and several others from behind, the survivors needed an escape route. Mark emptied his last clip into another three zombies, looking around for a way out. He spotted the fuel tanker Raymond was talking about and thought about what Raymond said. He called out to Trevor, who was smashing the zombies that came under the truck. "The fuel truck! Leak the gas!" he cried, retreating towards the edge of the canal. Trevor pulled the trigger of the shotgun, sending the last shell into a zombie's forehead. "What are you talking about?" he questioned. "We can leak the gas and burn them!" George yelled. He too was waiting by the truck, using the bat he found to beat back the zombies. "Do it! I have the lighter!" Kevin shouted, kicking back an oncoming zombie.

"No!" Lisa cried. "The fire will catch the truck on fire and kill us all!" she yelled. It was too late however. Trevor ran to the back of the truck and turned a red valve. At first nothing happened, but with then the red liquid sprayed out of the tanker, flooding the alleyway. "Into the canal!" Mark shouted, directing the survivors. "Oh fuck that!" Jim cried, looking down at the murky water. "It's either that or die!" Alyssa yelled back at him, taking a deep breath and plunging into the canal. "Go!" Kevin screamed, igniting the lighter.

"You make sure you fucking get out of here!" Trevor yelled at Kevin as he jumped into the canal. Kevin nodded to himself, throwing the lighter into the pool of fuel. With a sudden spark, the pool ignited into a raging inferno, traveling along the alley and burning the zombies to a crisp. They're bodies disentigrated and they collapsed on the ground, burning into ashes. The survivors quickly jumped into the canal one by one, until everyone but Kevin was in the water. He took one last look at Raymond's body.

"Goodbye..." he whispered, and plunged into the water.

Jess waited to take his turn to plunge into the water, eager to escape from harm. He held his breath and plunged into the water after Cindy, the freezing water sending his body into shock momentarily. He swam to the surface, finding the others around him, floating hopelessly. Behind the small group was a gate blocking off their passage, and in front of them the way was blocked by fire atop of the water. Kevin was the last into the water, followed by an ear-deafing explosion.

_KA-BOOOOM!_

Jess up and above his head, a wall of fire encasing the sky as the tanker exploded. He blinked, and opened and closed his jaw in an effort to clear the ringing from his ears. For a few minutes, the survivors simply floated in the water, unsure of what to do next. Jess held his handgun in the sir, unsure if the water would ruin it. It was empty, the clip exausted from battling the undead. Jess has no more bullets, and for a moment comtemplated just throwing it away in the water. Just as quickly as the thought came though, he discredited the idea. He decided that the water wouldn't harm it, and he stuffed it in the front of his pants. "Everyone, climb up here." George said, pulling himself into a hole in the wall. The survivors muttered non-audible responses, following George. The hole was only big enough for one person at a time, so the group took turns pulling themselves out of the water. When it came Jess's turn, he pulled himself into the hole and crawled along, following the dark path until it came to a drop off. George had set the bat down, helping each individual down onto the ground. Jess grasped his hand and jumped down. He looked around. The walls were dirty and peeling way, the sound of running water in the distance. He found himself in a long hallway, seeing the others walking down the corridor. The smell wasn't pretty either, Jess smelling trash and urine. He concluded they must in be the sewers.

Clint came in behind Jess, and Jess helped his friend down. "Are you ok?" Jess asked him. "Yeah, just a little wet." he chuckled, but Jess didn't find the humor in it. Jess himself had begun to shiver, his clothes soaked in water and with only a t shirt and jeans on, he needed to warm himself up. "Over here!" Kevin called to the group from the end of the hallway. Jess saw he wasn't the only one cold, each person trying to warm themselves up as they walked down the hallway. At the end of the hallway, Jess jumped down a small ledge, seeing another hallway with gates at either end. He simply followed the person who was in front of him, which happened to be David, and saw everyone climbing ladder to the street.

"I hope more of things aren't up there." Clint said. "Count on it." Mark replied from behind him. Clint sighed, and Jess hesitated before climbing the ladder, images forming in his head of the survivors being ambushed and eaten alive as they climbed out of the manhole. As Jess climbed the ladder, a thunderous roar came from below, causing him to stop and look into the darkness. Small _pop-pops!_ followed another roar, this time sounding much louder and closer then before, and Jess quickened his pace up the ladder. When he emerged from the manhole, David had turned around and was extending a hand to him. Jess took his hand and muttered 'thanks'. David simply nodded in reply. Jess looked around, finding himself in the middle of a street, the Apple Inn hotel in front of him. Behind him the road was blocked by an overturned bus.

Jess heard shouts and cries to his right, looking to see the other survivors running towards another a group of people on the street, an armoured police van next to them. "Goddamn, about time!" Clint shouted as he exited the manhole, walking towards Jess. "It's the police dude, they can get us out of here!" Clint cried, a smile breaking out over his face. "Finally!" Jess returned the smile, the two friends walking down the street.

In Jess's mind, he was ready to get out of this nightmare, ready to go home and never see another monster again. Jess had no idea what he was getting himself into.


	6. Seperate Ways

**Hell is only the Beginning**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to the Resident Evil series**

_Chapter 6: Seperate Ways_

After narrowly escaping a small army of the undead through the sewers, Jess, Clint and the other survivors came upon an armoured police van and another small group of survivors. The group from J's Bar quickly rushed towards the van. Jess spotted two police officers in the back of the van, and five others citizens in front if them. The street itself looked a twister had passed through. Cars were abandoned along the street, some were on fire but all were ruined. The only lights came from a streetlight hovering above the van. Behind that, a taxi cab was crashed into a dumpster and single bus bench was all that was left standing on the sidewalk. As the Jess and the others approached the van in haste, Jess saw two men and a woman cry out in fear, mistaking the survivors for zombies.

"Oh god! There's more!" A middle-aged woman shrieked. The two police officers pulled out handguns and aimed into the darkness. "Wait! Don't shoot!" Kevin cried, momentarily stopping before raising his hands. "We're human, don't worry!" He called out again. One police officer's head perked up, and lowered his pistol. "Officer Ryman? Kevin is that you?" The older police officer called out.

"Dorian!" Kevin yelled in reply. Kevin ran over to the man and shook his hand. "It's great to know your still alive!" Dorian returned the handshake. "Kevin, it's great to know you're ok too!" Kevin looked around for a moment. "What the hell happened? Where's the back-up?" He asked. Dorian forwened in response. "The city is quickly becoming a warzone. I was seperated from Brown and Raymond, they haven't radioed in yet. Sullivan, Elliot, and Jones went down to the mall to try and blow Apricot St. I haven't heard from them yet either. Me and Crawford have been holding down the fort here, hopeing to round up survivors and take them somewhere safe..."

As Jess and Clint stepped out into the light, he noticed he was quick to recieve glare from the five newcomers. There were three men, two who were middle aged and one who was older, Jess guessed somewhere in his fifties or even sixties. The two woman clung to the men, an obvious sign that they both men were married or dating the woman. One looked like a laywer, dressed in a suit similar to George and the other two were dressed in casual jeans and jackets. The two woman both wore casual dresses and matching blouses. Jess also observed the other police officer, a very young man who looked like he just got out of the academy. His regulation short blonde hair matched his brand new patrol uniform. His face was striken with unease and concern.

"Hello, I'm a doctor. Are any of you hurt at all?" George approached the small group with concern, and no one said anything back for a few moments. The older man was first to respond. "We're fine." he stated coldly. George was a little taken back by the response, but simply nodded and decided to sit down on the curb next to David and Jim. Clint and Jess watched the small scene, giving each other 'What is their problem?' looks. Kevin was deep in conversation with Dorian, and the survivors had one by one decided to sit and rest. Jess and Clint mimiced the survivors, both of them walking over to sit on the bus bench in front of the van. Jess sat down and set his pistol down next to him, the chamber completly empty. His wet clothes sent chils throughout his body, and he pushed his bangs out of his eyes, looking up into the night sky. Clint took a seat next to him, tearing off the makeshift sling that was now ripped and useless. He too was wet and cold, and sighed loudly as he leaned back into the bench.

"How's the arm?" Jess asked him.

"It kinda itches." Clint replied. "And I still can't feel my hand." Jess frowned and leaned back "You'll be ok." he finally said.

"At least we found help. Now we can get out of here, and I can get to a damn hospital."

"Yeah, I'm sure they can help." Jess muttered. In the back of his mind Jess couldn't help but think that whatever was causing people to turn into those monsters, it couldn't be reversed so easily. Still, he cling on to the hope that everything would be ok, if only to keep his mind at ease.

"This is gonna be quite the story to tell Kelly." Clint chuckled for a moment and then looked over to Jess, who didn't return the gesture. He simply shrugged and looked off into the distance again.

"I dunno, I'd rather just forget about it."

Silence ensued between them for another few minutes before the pair was approuched by Lisa, who slowly walked over to the bench. She hesitated before speaking. "Do you mind...If I sit?" she asked quietly. Jess looked at the woman, her face showing sadness and despair. Her body language however showed that she was able to get herself under control for the first time since the attack on Js Bar. Clint scooted down the bench, and Jess too scooted over so Lisa could sit down. Jess forced as smile as her eyes met his when she sat down. "Thank you." she said, clasping her hands together and resting them on her knees. She too held her head low, staring at the sidewalk as a million thoughts ran through her mind at once.

"Hey! Clint!" Kevin called out to from behind the large van. Clint looked up, and saw Kevin motioning for him to come over to the van. "We've got something that might help your arm..."

Jess watched his friend walk away, and his gaze laid again on Lisa. Her brown hair was frizzeled and ruined from the water, along with her blue blouse and matching jeans. Her hair was covering her face, so Jess couldn't see her features clearly. She was hunched over, still looking at the ground. He noticed she was picking at her fingernails, which actually looked like they were just recently done. A small sniffle was the only sound she made.

"Are you ok?" Jess asked softly, despite feeling stupid for asking such a thing. Lisa looked up our her trance and met Jess's gaze. Her hazel eyes were wided eyed and a little bloodshot from crying. Jess stared back into them, unable to look away from the darkness and emptiness they showed. She noticed Jess had a simliar look in his eyes.

"Yeah, I'm ok...It's just everything happened...so fast. " she muttered quietly. "Yeah..." Jess understood. His mind wasn't completly willing to accepted what happened, so he had simply shut the images out of his mind, thinking of only going home and up to his room, his sanctuary and his comfort zone.

"I'm sorry about your friend." Jess said slowly, unsure if he should bring up the death of Helen, the other woman who came into J's Bar with Lisa.

"I-It's ok..." she replied back quickly dropping the subject, looking away from Jess. She sighed heavily and Jess thought she was going to cry some more when she stopped and turned back towards him.

"Pretty crazy what's happened in the last couple of hours huh?" Jess nodded in reply.

"Yeah, I mean...Fuck, it's straight out of a nightmare." Jess has been one of billions of people who have watched horror movies with zombies in them, thinking somthing like that would never happen. Jess's mind was shattered at the thought of somthing so unreal becoming real. A chill ran down his spine when he closed his eyes, images of the ghouls burned into his mind.

Lisa decided to change the subject, not ready to discuss the presence of the undead. "What's a kid like you doing down here in the buisness district? Did you go to the Shark's game?" she questioned. Jess shook his head.

"No, I'm not really into football. "He replied.

"I thought so, you remind me of my brother. He's actually alot like you. Sorta long, straight hair, jeans and sneakers with a punk shirt..." she smiled to herself before going on. "You could probably pass for him at a distance. Do you skateboard? You look like a skater boy." she questioned, a slight energetic tone sparking in her voice.

Jess smiled, but was surprised at the way she talked to him. Earlier, she wouldn't say a word to anyone, barely moving and panicing at the first sign of danger. Now here she was talking to him, asking him about his life like a new girl sitting next to him in class, eager to make a friend. "No, not me." A small look of dissapointment crossed her face, but vanished as soon as it appered. "So whats your story then?"

Jess looked away, recalling the night's events in his mind. "I was hanging out with my buddy over there." Jess nodded at Clint, who was being treated by George with proper medical supplies. "We went and picked up my other friend...I took her to the park over by the Wandermere shopping center and was just hanging out with her for a little bit." Jess paused, recalling the walk alone he had with Leanna. His stomach did a flip as he thought of her, praying that she was ok. "Then my buddy and me dropped her off and came downtown to get somthing to eat and then...this happened." Lisa nodded sympathecially.

"Yeah, me and Helen...We were walking home from the Grill 13 restaurent and the police set up a barricade on Main St. They told us to get home quickly, so we decided to go down Jefferson when those things attacked us..." She trailed off, pausing as her eyes started to water again. "Helen was attacked, so we went running with a crowd of people looking for help until we saw J's Bar. And then...The rest is history" She concluded.

"I'm sorry..." Jess muttered, not sure of what else to say to her.

Lisa let out a deep sigh and blinked away her tears. "Where do you live?" Jess asked. She pointed towards the Apple Inn Hotel. "About...8 blocks behind that. In the South Hill Apartments."

Jess shook his head. "That's pretty shitty, getting so close to home and..." he trailed off, unsure of what to say.

Lisa laughed at this. The tone though, Jess could tell, was of a certain dark humor. "You're telling me. All this fucked up shit happens, and my best friend died because of it!" Jess was startled by the outburst, as were some other survivors who looked over towards the two with a worried glance.

Lisa took a few deep breath, and looked back at Jess, her rage seemingly gone. "What about you? You said you were up by Wandermere?" she questioned.

"Yeah, I live in a duplex Uptown, near Raccoon High." Lisa nodded in understandment. "You said you had a brother? Does he go there?" Jess asked, wondering if he knew the boy by chance.

"No, he goes to Jefferson. His name is Ricky. Ricky Codd?" Jess saw a glint of hope in her eyes, hopeing that Jess maybe knew him, and knew if he was safe. Jess however shook his head, seamingly reading her mind. "I've never heard of him."

"Oh..." she muttered, looking away. Silence ensued between the two for a few minutes, before she spoke up again.

"What's gonna happeen now?" she whispered. Jess looked at her, unsure of what to say. He was thinking the same thing too, deep in his mind. Jess offered an answer back. "I'm sure the police will take care of us."

"The police?" she laughed in that same dark tone. "How so? You and me both saw those men _slaughtered_ by those savages!" she cried, loud enough to warrent more stares from several others. "How do you stop somthing like _that_!?" She tugged at her hair, threatening to pull it out in frustration. Jess frowned, and put a hesitant hand on her shoulder. "It'll be ok..."

_No it won't_

Jess had said that phrase one too many times for his liking, and he didn't like it because things never actually seem to turn out ok. Jess's mind thought about the situation, the nightmare he was going through. Zombies were tuggin at his mind, threatening to eat away at his sanity. Jess hoped that those were the only monstrosities lurking in the shadows.

Moments later his thoughts dirifted once more to Leanna. She was Jess's best friend for 5 years, since the beginning of Jess's middle school years. in every aspect she was that one girl friend that every guy needed. She was the only person for the last five years that Jess had been able to really sit down and talk about his feelings, his thoughts, his problems that plauged him. She always brought out the secrets Jess was hiding from Clint, and Jess had always tried to be there for her. His heart ached with pain and knots formed in his stomach at the thought of losing her.

_She'll be ok...She has to be..._

Jess's thoughts were interuppted by Cindy, who came over to make sure the two of them were doing ok. She knelled down in front of Lisa, placing a hand on her knee. "Don't worry, we're gonna be fine." Cindy said softly. "We'll make it through this." If she was forcing a smile, Jess couldn't tell because her smile alone was enough to convince Lisa to look up and wipe her eyes. "Yeah..." she replied, her throat not allowing her say much more. "We're gonna go to safety, and we're gonna wait for everything to get under control. Then everything will be back to normal." Cindy spoke slowly, looking in Lisa's eyes the whole time. Lisa stood up, and pulled Cindy into a hug. "You're right, it will be ok..." Lisa tried hard to contain her sobs as Cindy ran a hand through her hair. "See? Just keep telling yourself that and it'll be ok." With a smile, Cindy let Lisa go, who muttered somthing Jess couldn't hear and walked across to the street by herself. Jess was amazed at Cindy's optimisim. To him, he thought that she was the kind of girl that wouldn't let anything get her hopes down that easily. She turned towards Jess.

"And how are you doing?" she asked him, taking Lisa's seat on the bench. "I'm ok." Jess stated rather flatley. Cindy cocked her head, unconvinced. She thought for a moment before speaking. "You don't let this get to you either ok?" She finally said. Jess's eyes met Cindy's. "How old are you?" she asked.

"16."

"See? You have a good life ahead of you, so just don't worry about the past. Because tonight...Is just in the past." Cindy trailed off, looking away. The smile was gone, her mind deep in thought. Jess smirked to himself. The idea of not thinking about the past was stupid to him, even a little obsurd. Jess waited a few moments before questioning her. "Are _you _ok?" he asked. Cindy looked up, opening her mouth and hesitating for a second before answer. "Yes."

_That's good, because I'm really not_

Cindy smiled again as Alyssa came over to the pair and she too sat down next to Jess as Cindy wondered off to help George. Jess wasn't in the mood to talk to the moody reporter.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Well Kevin, my last order from Harrison were to round up survivors down in this area after we lost contact with Raymond, but the van only fits so many people and I lost radio contact before I could get some back-up. I know there's a collection point for survivors down on Mayberry, but like I said earlier, Elliot was trying to blow Apricot, and I haven't heard from him at all since he left..." Dorian was explaining the situation to Kevin, who was trying to figure out the next step. His faced betrayed the grim look in his eyes, but he was silent as he waited for Dorian to finish. "Apparently earlier this morning the National Guard quaratined the whole damn city. No one gets in, no one gets out. That's what Harrison was telling us. It doesn't seem like we can call them for help either, since we can't even get ahold of our own guys. I know the phone lines still work though, Mary called me about an hour ago, and I told her to go to the station. That's where our rendevous is if things get really bad-"

"That's where we should take them." Kevin interuppted. Dorian didn't speak for a few moments. "That's what I was thinking. It would be the best, but it's gonna be a long trip. That's almost three miles away and with barricades and those freaks everywhere we'll have to go slow to avoid any accidents." Kevin nodded, already making up his mind. "We'll have to try it. We have to get these people to safety. I've already lost too many tonight..." Kevin avoided Dorian's look of concern, and sighed as he thought of his fellow officer Raymond. Raymond was like a mentor to Kevin, helping him work his way up to be the respected police officer he is today. He regrets not being able to help Raymond, and he feels a certain connection with the small group from J' Bar, since they all were going through the same nightmare as himself.

"Then I guess that's the plan. There's still the problem of transportation. We have how many?" Dorian asked Kevin. Kevin looked around and counted each person off, including himself and Dorian. "There's nineteen of us all together. Even with that van, we can't fit everyone in at once..."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"How are you doing?" Alyssa asked Jess, who looked away from her.

"I'm ok." he said flatly. Alyssa was quiet for a moment before speaking.

"George says that your friend is gonna be alright." Jess turned and looked towards her, his mask dropping for a moment.

"Really?" he asked, his eyes widening as he looked over towards the van. Alyssa nodded. "Yeah, he's getting transpoted to a hospital first chance." Her tone was friendly and soft, a far-cry from the rudeness Jess remember back at the bar. Jess couldn't help but smile.

"That's good." He stated. Alyssa looked back towards the van, and then back at Jess. "Yeah, I'm sure we'll get him fixed right up." Alyssa smiled, trying to be nice to the teen. The two sat in silence for a few moments before Jess spoke up.

"Not to be rude but...You're alot nicer then your other friend from earlier." Jess was thinking of Lauren, the other reporter that Alyssa had been with before the outbreak. Lauren had paniced and stole a police cruiser for herself, endangering the rest of the survivors and leaving them behind. Alyssa's calm, smiling demenour vanished like a puff of smoke.

"She was not my friend, let me tell you!" she stated, her brow furrowing. She crossed her arms and looked away from Jess. "She called _me _selfish? She can get on her knees and suck off all those freaks for all I care!" Jess chuckled, half disguted and half amused from the comment.

_She's certainly two-faced_ Jess concluded, remembering how one minute she was yelling at the survivors to shut up and the next she was consoling Mark and talking friendly to Jess. Jess certainly thought she was a character though, and was actually starting to enjoy her company when a shout from Kevin echoed in the air.

"Everyone! Gather around, come on!"

Alyssa and Jess exchanged questioning looks, and stood up from the bench to walk over to the van. The survivors crowded around the back of the van. The back doors were open and Kevin was standing inside the van, using his height advantage for his next speech. "Ok, I know you all want to go home and back to your families, but right now that's not an option. We've decided that the best course of action for you and me is to evacuate you to the RPD."

Kevin paused and was waiting for reactions, but there was mostly silence. Trevor gave a rather loud sigh and crossed his arms, but everyone else waited for more. "Now, the precinct is about three miles away, but with the barricades set up around the city, it will probably take a good 30 minutes or so. We don't want any accidents." Kevin stopped and let Dorian stand up and talk. He cleared his throat before continuing Kevin's words. "The big problem is that there are ninteen people here, and even if we all sqeeze together I think that only ten can fit in the back." Dorian took another deep breath. "We're thinking that we will have to leave some of you behind and come back to pick you up."

The roar of cries and outrages were loud enough to rival machine gun fire. Even Jess joined in, shouting with disbelief at the proposal.

"Leave us behind? Fuck you!" Trevor shouted.

"You can't do that! You're supposed to protect us!" Alyssa threw her arms up in a fury.

"I don't wanna die! I'm not staying out here!" Jim cried and whined.

"No way, that's not gonna happen!" David yelled.

"Sir! We can't do that!" The young officer named Crawford cried. The panic was clear on numerous people's face.

Kevin was expecting this reaction, ans was patient for a moment while he was assulted with insults and profanities. After a minute he raised his hand for silence. The crowd however, continued to revolt.

"Fucking pigs! Why not just feed us to those goddamn cannibals while you're at it!" the older man who Jess didn't know shouted. Kevin's face flashed anger, taking clear offence to the comment.

"Shut up!" Kevin cried, silencing the crowd for a moment.

"I don't fucking like it anymore then you do, but it has to be done! You wanna live then you'll cooperate with us, or you can just fucking go get yourself killed!" Kevin yelled, his voice trembling slightly. It was clear his anger was built up to the point were he was beginning to lose control. "There's nineteen here, we are going to take ten at first, and come back for the other eight. Those who stay behind _will be protected!_ I will personally stay behind to make sure nothing happens!" he took a deep breath and calmed himself. Jess stopped and listened to Kevin, knowing full well he would endanger himself to protect other innocent people. He continued on. "Those who do stay behind will just sit tight here, and Officer Crawford and myself will stay behind. That just leave six more. The trip should only take an hour, once Dorian finds a way there, he'll come back and pick us up." His voice was calm, and back under control.

The survivors went quiet, some with hope in their eyes and others with glares. Kevin relaxed, glad the shouting had stopped. "I need volunters." he stated.

No one said anything. For a few moment the crowd was quiet. Jess could hear his own heartbeat, it was so quiet. Finally with a scoff and a sigh, Trevor spoke. "Fuck it, I'll stay. But I want some goddamn ammo or somthing!" he shouted up at Kevin, holding the shotgun from the bar. Kevin nodded, a small smile forming. Mark spoke next. "I'll stay." he said with a nod. More silence ensued. A few minutes passed and then David spoke up, his raspy voice like a knife cutting the cool night air. "Yeah, I will too."

"Alright, that's what I want to see!" Kevin whispered to himself. He looked towards the five unknown survivors and he recieved 'fuck off' looks from them. He looked into the crowd, looking everyone in the eye hopeing to convince someone to help him out. "Kevin, I'll stay!" George shouted. Kevin frowned much to Jess's surprise. "Sorry Doc, we'll need you at the station. You have to go." This prompted looks of outrage, but the group held their silence. Alyssa raised her hand. "I can stay!" she said with confidence. Kevin gave her a smile and she winked back at him.

For a moment, Jess was ready to fight to get him and Clint into that van, but now he was starting to change his mind. Clint saw the look of deep thought on Jess's face and grabbed his arm. "No way man, we have to chance to get out of this!" Jess looked back at Clint. "You go." Jess stated. Surprise and anger crossed Clint's face. "I'm not leaving you behind!" he replied, trying to keep his voice down. Jess shook his head. "You're not, I'll see you in an hour."

Jess's mind was made up. He raised his hand, catching Kevin's eye. "I'll stay." he annouced. Kevin hesitated for a moment, but nodded. Clint was about to shout out when a gruff voice interrupted him. "I guess I can wait!" the older nameless man shouted. He sounded extremely unsure of himself, but raised his hand nonetheless . Jess wasn't the only one surprised. His friend gave him a look like he was mentally insane, and they quabbled for aminute amongst themselves. In the end though, the older man looked toward Kevin and nodded.

"I want to stay!" Clint shouted. "No , he can't. We need to get him properly looked at beofre his arm gets any worse." George cut in. Clint was about to protest when Mark put a hand on his shoulder, halting him. "He's right. You'll do more harm then good if the shit hits the fan."

"No! I refuse to go without him!" Clint looked at Jess, and Jess sighed, looking towards the ground.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Several minutes later, and eight survivors were on the side of the street, watching the other eight climb into the back of the van. The four nameless survivors were first, followed by Jim, Yoko, Cindy, George, Clint, and Lisa. Dorian climbed into the driver seat and started the engine. As Lisa was climbing into the van, she looked back at Jess, and caught his eye. "Stay safe!" she called out. Jess gave her a smile and a nod. Before the van was started, the eight left behind were able to raid the locker in the van. "We might as well let them have weapons, I can't get a hold of any officers around here..." Dorian was saying.

The locker held several shotguns and pistols, and plenty of ammo as well as medical supplies. Kevin, Mark and David grabbed a Mossberg 590 shotgun and grabbed over 30 shells. Trevor grabbed enough shells to refill his shotgun and have plenty left over, grabbing close to 24 extra. Alyssa grabbed a Beretta 9mm and four clips for it, and she also grabbed a small pack that let her carry around a first-aid kit. The older man, who Jess learned was named Robert, decided to pick a .357 Colt Pythong magun revolver and 3 speed loaders. Crawford was already armed with a shotgun, so Jess was last into the van. He grabbed a clip for his handgun and loaded it into the gun, followed by grabbing an additonal four clips Kevin was monitoring the small group, and stepped over towards Jess and reached above to the top shelf of the locker, grabbing a spare gun holster.

"Here, put it around your leg." Kevin stated. Jess took it and mimiced Kevin, wrapping the straps around his right thigh and tightening them together. He placed the pistol in the holster, and Kevin showed him how to keep the gun from falling out, strapping it in the holster. "Thanks, I needed that." Jess said, appreciating the ease the gun holster presented him when it came to carrying his firarm around. Kevin patted Jess on the shoulder and smiled. "No problem kid, besides I wouldn't want you to stick that in your pants and forget to turn the safety on!" Kevin laughed as he exited the van.

As Clint climbed in the back of the van, he looked out onto the street and met Jess's eyes. Though they didn't speak, Clint gave Jess a 'I'll see you later' look and Jess understood. Jess wasn't ready to say goodbye, and he was clinging on to the small hope that his friend would get better when he arrived at the police station. It was the only thing keeping him going at the moment, confused and desperete to know his loved ones are ok. Kevin shut the back doors and jogged over to the driver's window. After a few exchanging of words, Kevin recieved a walkie-talkie and then rejoined the survivors as he watched the van pull around the idle taxi.

The eight individuals watched as the darkness overtook the van, and Jess had a sick feeling at that moment that he was going to have a long night ahead of himself.

**Author's Note: Well sorry, this chapter had no real action or horror in it, but the next chapter will have plenty. As always please leave a review and ****constructed criticism and spelling/grammer help are always welcome :)**


	7. Nightmares Come to Life

**Hell is only the Beginning**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to the Resident Evil series**

**Just wanted to do a special shoutout to bloodlives, who gave me a rather confidence-boosting review that made me sit down and get past my rather large dose of writer's block. So thanks to him/her, and if anyone else wants to say somthing about the story, dont be afraid :)**

_Chapter 7: Nightmares Come to Life_

It had been over an hour since the escape van had left Jess, Kevin, Mark, David, Alyssa, Officer Crawford, Trevor, and Robert on the street in order to transport the other survivors to the RPD, and Jess could tell he wasn't the only one starting to worry about it's return. The small group had decided to move off of the street and sit infront of a alleyway, closed by a steel gate. Jess sat with his back against the wall, making small talk to Alyssa next to him. Kevin looked into the darkness anxiously every few moments, and Robert, the old man that had joined the group, was pacing back and forth on the sidewalk.

When Alyssa wasn't talking to Jess about her infamous scoops of the past or her opinions on Raccoon's political figures, the silence was a double-sided blade to Jess. One one side, the silence was refreshing after being through much chaos. Gunshots and cries of the undead were still fresh in Jess's mind, but the silence was relaxing, at least for a little bit. After awhile though, the silence was so deafening that he could start to hear other noises in the night. Sirens wailed throughout the night, some sounding so close the the survivors thought that help had arrived. Small pops and booms could be heard echoing in the distance, and occasionaly a helicopter could be heard in the air.

"I'm telling you I'm going to get to the bottom of this, and I'm sure I'll win somthing like the damn Pulitzer or somthing!" Alyssa said to Jess.

"How are you going to get to the bottom of this?" Jess questioned. An amusing image of Alyssa trying to interview a zombie formed in his head, but he quickly shook it out of his head as soon as he thought of it. "I'll start with the chief of police for one." She stated. Chief Brian Irons was head of the Raccon Police Deparment and was the one putting on the pretty face for the press. Jess remembered him saying that everything was under control just weeks ago, and that normal citizens like him and Alyssa would be able to rest easy at night.

_Bullshit_ Jess thought, thinking of the zombies he had encountered just hours ago. Alyssa interrupted his thoughts again. "Then I'll have to track down the former S.T.A.R.S." she finished. Like every other citizen in Raccoon, Jess too had heard about the Spencer Mansion incident. He didn't follow the story very closely, but he heard the basics of how the police force sent the S.T.A.R.S. team to investigate the old mansion back in July. Thirteen officers went into the mansion, and the community was horrified when only five came back alive. The reports were that the remaining officers claimed to be attacked by nightmarish creatures, such as zombies, mutated dogs and crows, giant snakes and sharks, skinless gorillas and even man-eating plants.

The worst part of the whole case was that the survivors claimed the the international pharmacutical company Umbrella was behind everything. They claimed the Umbrella was running illegial, viral experiments and was the cause of the outbreak of the "virus". Despite the consistency of the stories and claims, the case was dismissed and the remaining S.T.A.R.S. members resigned.

Jess personally had always thought of Umbrella as a honest to god good company. They were the leading researchers when it came to curing viruses such as cancer and measels. They were always donating to various charities, and Jess himself found a frequent use for their products, asprin especially. The more that Jess thought about it however, the more Jess was starting to have second thoughts about the whole situation. The formally ridiculous stories from the S.T.A.R.S. members were quickly becoming reality. Jess decided to push the thoughts from his mind for now as the remaining survivors were starting to get anxious from the wait.

"Goddamn, where the fuck are they?" Trevor sighed in frustration as he sat up from leaning against a nearby dumpster.

"They'll be back, don't worry." Kevin responded with confidence.

"It's been over an hour since they left." Robert stated, looking at his watch. He was wearing a tan jacket with light blue jeans. He had a slight beer belly, and his slicked back grey hair complemented the wrinkles in his face. The man was pacing back and forth, and had just lit his fourth cigarette since the van left.

"You don't think somthing happened to the van do you?" Alyssa said, giving a worried look to Kevin. He stayed silent for a moment, holding the small walkie-talkie in his hand, nothing but static emitting from it. "I don't know." he finally muttered.

"Maybe we should try to reach the station on foot?" Officer Johnny Crawford piped in. Mark shook his head. "No way, I'm sure the streets are overrun with those things." he said.

"You never know," Alyssa cut in. "Maybe the police were able to kill them all?" she questioned. David spoke up. "You can go wondering in the dark then. I'll be right behind you." His voice was cold, his face giving off an 'I dare you' look. Alyssa opened her mouth, but closed it, opting to stay silent.

"I'm with her," Johnny said. "We should try to get to the station on foot." Before anyone could answer, Jess was quick to back up his proposal. "Yeah, we haven't seen any of _them _around here, maybe it'll just be empty on the streets?" Kevin held up his hands to try and stop the dicussion before it could continue.

"People, we can't just leave and walk the streets! It's too dangerous! Besides, what if the van does come back?" he questioned.

"What if it doesn't? What if those monsters come back here and find us? We'll die!" Robert cried, his fear clearly showing.

"Yeah! I don't wanna sit here and wait for more of those freaks to show up!" Trevor joined in, taking a stand next to Robert and Johnny.

Jess sat in silence as the group was thrown into more argument. Kevin, David, and Mark were comtempt to stay put, whereas Johnny, Robert, Alyssa and Trevor were ready to try and reach the station on foot. Jess too was ready to head out on foot, but he opted to stay silent in the argument, not sure if his opinion would even matter. Jess let his thoughts wonder, blocking out the argument and thinking once more about his close friends Clint and Leanna, wishing for their safety. Jess's thoughts then rested upon a person he hadn't worried about all night. His mother.

Jess was raised by his single mother, Teresa Anderson, all his life. He had no siblings, no close relatives, and no father. His mother worked as a top lawyer for the local B&B law firm, which meant that she was frequently working all day and even nights to get work done. Over the years, she had turned into somewhat of a workaholic, creating a fragile relationship between her and Jess. Jess however still loved her and was beginning to worry about her safety when he was brought out of his thoughts at the sound of cries and shouts.

"No way! I'm not waiting any longer! Dorian told us he'd be about an hour, and it's been longer then a goddamn hour!" Johnny shouted.

"Yeah, I bet that van got overrun by those freaks out there! It's not coming back!" Robert yelled.

"You better listen up rookie!" Kevin shouted at Johnny, gripping the young man by his shirt collar. "We're going to sit down and protect these people, even if that means waiting here for back-up!" The anger was clear in Kevin's voice, and it clearly scared Johnny.

"Screw you Kevin! I'm getting to fuck out of here!" Johnny pushed Kevin away and raised his pistol, aiming at the older officer. He was trembling, and nervously backed up until his back hit the brick wall beside Jess and Alyssa. The pair quickly stood up in fear and ran behind Mark and David, who were aiming their guns at Johnny from behind Kevin.

"Johnny snap out of it!" Kevin cried. "You're an officer of the law! You've got to protect these citizens! Remember the oath you took!" Kevin tried to talk him down, but Johnny wasn't buying it.

"Fuck that! You weren't there Kevin! You wanna know why it was just me and Dorian waiting here? It's 'cause those freaks tore up everyone else!" the young man was shaking, his pistol swaying back and forth from one person to the next. "Langley, Davidson, Johnson, McClean, Jones, all of them fucking eaten like a stuffed turkey! They'll find us Kevin, and they'll kill us too!" Johnny screamed hysterically, tears rolling down his face. He waved his gun widly at the survivors, waiting for one of them to make a wrong move.

"Johnny, it's ok to be scared, but look at yourself man! Those officers died to protect citizens like these people here, and you'd have their deaths be in vain if you ran away now!" Kevin protested, slowly but surely taking steps towards the young officer. Johnny gripped his gun tighter. "Don't you fucking come any closer Kevin!" he screamed. Kevin nodded and raised his hands in defeat. "Ok, Johnny, you got it, just put the gun down." he asked sternly.

"I'd rather blow my own fucking brains out then be one of them Kevin! You know what I just found out? Kathy and I are having a baby Kevin! I was going to be a fucking father!" he screamed, the tears pouring out harder. Kevin opened his mouth in shock, unable to respond properly. Trevor however, was quick to respond.

"Big fucking deal hotshot! I've got a little girl too but you don't see me throwing a fucking fit!" he scoffed. A look of surprise crossed Jess's face, but his attention was quickly diverted back to the out of control officer.

"Fuck you asshole!" Johnny screamed in retaliation, pulling back the hammer on his pistol. Kevin was quick to pull his gun on Johnny. "Drop the gun man!" Kevin cried, reluctently taking aim at Johnny. "Go to hell!" he screamed in retaliation. Kevin sighed in anger. He knew the situation was out of control, and if he didn't do somthing quick to diffuse the situation then alot of people could get hurt. He took another step towards the man, a risk he would soon regret.

_BANG!_

Jess blinked in shock as Johnny fired his gun into the air, a stern warning to Kevin that he wasn't messing around. The young man had completely lost his sanity and was beginning to unable to tell friend from foe. Silence filled the air, the sound of Johnny's rapid breathing and small movements from the others the only thing Jess could hear. He stood next to Alyssa and Robert, unsure of what to do. The trio stood behind Mark and David, who still had their shotguns raised towards Officer Crawford. Kevin was in front of them, thinking of his next staement. A few moments passed, and then a small but noticable noise broke the silence.

_Thump!_

Jess blinked, unsure if he was imagining the sound. _Thump!_ It repeated, and Jess was sure he heard it for real. It reminded him of the sound a body makes when it hits concrete. Alyssa looked at him with a confused look, unsure of where the sound came from. It was close however, Jess knew that for a fact. Another _thump!_ this time, from behind Jess. He turned around, looking across the street and into the dark for the source of the sound. Suddenly, the air was filled with sounds of movement, somthing was jumping and landing, with most of the noise coming from the rooftops. The sounds paralyzed Jess with fear, seemeing to get closer and closer to the small group with every passing second. Jess wasn't the only one on edge, the survivors scanning the darkness for any sign of the sources of noise. Then silence filled the air once more.

Jess looked across the street at the small deli, his eyes widening as he swore he saw shapes slowly pass the window. Movement to the left caught his eye, and he could see small but noticable shapes moving towards the group. The survivors slowly huddled together in a small circle, with exception of Johnny, and slowly moved together in front of the locked alleyway. "I fucking told you we should have moved!" Trevor whispered in anger. Mark hushed him, tightening his grip on his shotgun. Jess gripped his pistol and scanned the darkness, unable to locate the shapes he saw moments ago.

_Click-Click! Click-Click!_

Officer Johnny Crawford slowly raised his gaze above him, hearing strange clicking noises that were similar to somthing like nails on a wooden desk he constantly heard when doing paperwork back at the station. As he looked up, somthing wet splatted onto his right shoulder, covering it with sticky, foul smelling ooze. "O-Oh god..." he whispered, his whole body trembling with fear. A loud hiss resonated throughout the night air, and then Johnny was attacked. Somthing slimy and bumpy wrapped around his neck, tightning instantly and causing his throat to close. Seconds later he was lifted off of the ground, his feet dangling widly in the air. He gasped and weezed, pulling at the makeshift noose around his neck. Seconds passed as Johnny started to blackout, and the last thing he saw was the horror etched on each individual person's face. With a squeeze and a sick _snap! _Officer Johnny Crawford was decapitated, his lifeless body hitting the cold pavement with a dull thud, his head following a moment later.

Every survivors stood frozen in horror, their mouths hanging open and their eyes unable to blink after seeing the gruesome execution. Johnny's attacker then revealed itself. With a loud _Thump!_, a creature Jess didn't even think was possible in nightmares jumped into the light in front of the small circle. A downright mockery to Mother Nature, the creature looked similiar to a human, albeit one who had been turned inside out. It crawled on all fours, clicking and clacking it's claws on each hands, each razor-sharp talon the size of a kitchen knife. It's brain was partially exposed on top of it's head, and beneath that a jaw full of menacing fangs that could easily tear a human being in half with one swift bite. Saliva was dripping from it's mouth as it extended it's most menacing weapon, a thin yet elongated tongue that could easily reach the nearest survivor with minimul effort. It had no eyes or ears, and to call it a demon straight from hell wouldn't have been close enough to describe it.

Jess stood paralyzed in fear, his jaw dropping in shock, his brain unable to comprehend a complete thought. The monster let out a loud groan, and several more shapes from the road stepped into the light, joining it's brother for the meal to come. The survivors stood in shock, a tense stand-off between human and creature commencing, neither species daring to make the first move. Several seconds went by, until the survivors were brought out of their shock by and ear-piercing scream from the monster, lashing it's tongue towards the nearest survivor.

"Holy shit!" Kevin screamed as he jumped back, the tongue smashing a rather large hole in the concrete where he once stood. The tongue was as sharp as a blade, floating lazily in the air like a butterfly, stinging like a bee. An ear-piercing scream shattered Jess's shock, and a rough hand grabbed his shirt and threw him back.

_"RUN!"_

Gunshots filled the air as the creatures launched themselves in the air, claws extended and ready to kill. "GO!" Trevor's voice ordered Jess, who had finally snapped out of his shock, only to be replaced by panic. Thinking only of escape, he squeezed the soft hand that had grabbed his, and his legs flew into overdrive as he blindly followed his new leader, running down the alleyway that was formerly locked, opened with a gunshot to the lock. His heart racing, he didn't dare look back as he heard gunshots, in-human cries, and more inaudible sounds behind him. As Jess and his companion ran for what seemed like an eternity, they finally emerged from the dark alleyway onto another torn up street, this one looking worse then the first street they were on.

Jess kept running though, not daring to stop and wait for those monstrosities. He realized he was running with Alyssa, whose hand was still clamped around Jess's, leading him down the street without stopping. The two ran for several more blocks, before corpses filled the streets, low moans erupting from them. Jess stopped and stared once again in horror, seeing a wall of zombies in front of him, blocking the entire street. Alyssa was quick to pull him away, leading him down the nearest alleyway, jumping over another bloody corpse before slamming into the door at the end of the alley, quickly opening it and shutting it with a slam moments later.

Jess kneeled over in exhaustion, realizing he was still gripping his pistol for dear life. The sound of the door locking made Jess turn around to face Alyssa, she too out of breath and panting for air. Jess was able to process the fact that they were the only ones, seperated from the others in their blind panic. Jess huffed and weezed, his legs aching from being overworked so quickly. Jess sank to the floor, backing up against the closeest wall and closing his eyes, unable to comprehend the events minutes ago. The whole thing was just a blur to Jess, and he could only think of getting far, far away from his newest nightmare. His heart was beating so fast and so hard that it felt like it would jump out of his chest. He licked his lips and continued to sit on the floor, despair and fear consuming his mind.

Alyssa too was out of breath, her feet aching from running in high heels. She too wanted to sit down and rest, but she didn't, instead drawing her pistol and examining her surroundings. She realized Jess and her stumbled inside a building, inside a small storage room to more precise. Moving past a few boxes, she opened the only other door and found herself behind the counter of a flower shop. The lights were off, but the fires outside the window illuminated enough light for her to see. She quickly scanned the small shop for any danger, and let out a sigh of relief when no monsters were found. It looked like the shop was unaffected by the horrors outside, the flowers sitting neatly on the shelves, the counter cleaned and spotless. Shapes and shadows moved past the large display window, and she quickly ducked down, peeking out to see that the street was indeed inhabited by the living dead. Luckily, they didn't seem to notice her in the window and shambled about mindlessly. They all seemed to be shambling in one general direction, giving her the idea that perhaps they found other survivors to track down.

Her scan complete, she returned to the small room and took a seat next to Jess, who had his head buried in his arm, which were resting on his legs. He was breathing heavily and his pistol lay on the ground in front of him. Alyssa did the first thing her mind told her to, wrapping her arms around Jess and resting her head on his. She closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths, trying to speak to him.

"It's ok...We're safe...Don't worry, we're safe now..." she trailed off, unable to say more. Jess muttered a small "Ok" and said no more, sitting in silence. Alyssa didn't know what to do, but her gut instinct told her to try and calm Jess down. She too could see those monsters in her head, pushing her own sanity to the edge. She knew however, that she had to get herself under control, for her sake and Jess's sake. The two sat for several minutes in silence, each catching their breath and letting the fear run it's course through them. Alyssa cradled Jess, fearing for the young boy's sanity. Jess welcomed her arms, closing his eyes and letting his mind slowly but surely register that he was safe.

After the two had calmed down, Alyssa softly began speaking to Jess. "We're ok for now...But we won't be for long." she told him. Jess nodded in reply. "Ok..." he croaked, his throat dry and parched. He cleared his throat and spoke up. "The others...What happened?" he asked, looking at Alyssa's face. She frowned, unsure herself. "We just...Got seperated I guess..." she looked away, fearing for lives of Kevin, Mark, Trevor and the others. "I'm sure they're ok though." she stated. "It would take more then those..._freaks_...to do those guys in." she finished, a little confidence returning to her voice. At the mention of the 'Licker' as Umbrella scientists had named it, Jess shook his head.

"What the _fuck_?" he simply asked, a look of pure confusion and disgust crossing his face. Alyssa shook her head, unable to answer. She too didn't know what to think of the Licker, and held back tears at the thought of Officer Crawford's gruesome end, that single moment etched into her mind. She unwrapped her arm around Jess, pulling herself up from the ground and then helping Jess up. "We have to go. Look around for supplies or somthing ok?." Alyssa asked. Jess nodded, his mind unclouded by fear and panic. Jess holstered his pistol and followed Alyssa.

The two stepped into the main shop area and Alyssa peered out the window, seeing most of the dark figures gone. Only one or two zombies were left in front of the shop and Alyssa was beginning to hope that maybe they could safely run out onto the streets. Jess had looked around the shop, trying to find anything of use, particularly somthing to eat or drink. His stomach rumbled with hunger, and Jess was hopeing to find at least a mini-fridge. A small clock on the far wall showed Jess the time was now 11:17, meaning the last time he ate was over 6 hours ago. He was planning to get dinner with Clint, but that quickly changed due to the outbreak. He was out of luck, as he found nothing of use. Returning next to Alyssa at the window, he peered out into the street. "There's nothing of use here." he said, his tone having a hint of dissapointment in it.

"We can outrun them..." Alyssa muttered to herself more then Jess. "I think we should try to find at least a gas station or somthing, maybe a grocery store or a pawn shop." she said louder, checking her gun to see it was still fully loaded. Jess gave a small gasp of disbelief. "No way, we can't go back out there!" he exclaimed, walking back towards the back of the small shop. "That's fucked up, we're ok here!" he put his hands on his hips, his stern face showing he was not giving up the shelter they had found. "Jess." Alyssa said sternly, walking over towards him. "Hey, I don't like it anymore then you do, but I'm not staying here to get fucked over later!" she shouted back, her calm and caring demenour vanishing in replacment for her snotty attitude and selfishness. Jess huffed, crossing his arms and looking away.

"Whatever..." he muttered. Alyssa sighed and crossed her arms. "Look, I'm not leaving you here, and I think it would be best if we both found a safer place. You said so yourself, there's nothing useful here. What if we have to stay here for the night? Or even days?" she questioned, her voice calm but stern. Jess didn't like it, but he knew she was right. Alyssa stepped forward and put her hands on Jess's shoulder. "Look, I know things have gone to hell, but we can make it. We just have to try." she forced a smile and caught Jess's gaze, pleading with her eyes for him to follow her. Jess shook his head. "Fine. We'll just go die." he said flatly. Alyssa's brow furrowed. "Let's go."

Alyssa waited for a moment before opening the front door, saying a silent prayer to herself. She braced the handle in one hand, the other gripping her pistol. Jess was behind her, his pistol drawn too, a look of uncertainty on his face. She slowly opened the shop door and stepped out onto the street, peaking in both directions for anything unhuman. Numerous shapes were seen in the distance to her left, her right strangely clear of zombies. Jess and Alyssa began jogging down the sidewalk, constantly looking over their shoulders to see if anything was following them. As they passed numerous alleyways, moans could be heard and zombies would step out onto the street after the duo, but they saved their bullets and kept going. As they jogged for a few minutes, they reached a four-way intersection, and Jess looked at the street sign.

_'Main St.'_

"Come on" Alyssa shouted, turning right and running down Main St. Jess followed behind her, noticing this street too was empty, save for the occasional crash car or bloody corpse on the ground. A few more silent minutes of jogging, and the duo stopped, hearing sirens in the distance. "You here that?" Jess asked. Alyssa nodded. "Yeah! It sounds like it's coming from up the street!" she exclaimed, her mind set on the idea that the police were waiting up ahead. She began running towards the sirens, Jess tagging along behind. They both came within distance of a newly former barricade, seeing several cars were park sideway, officers setting themselves up behind the makeshift barrier. SWAT officers dressed in full riot gear poured out of vans and took up a position behind the patrol officers. Jess and Alyssa stopped less then half a block away, and watched as another horde of zombies approached the barricade.

"Don't fire until I say so!" a veteren officer yelled to the small army. Each officer gripped their gun tightly, praying for the safety of thier families and friends. As the mob drew closer, each officer paled at the sight of the cannibals, each man, woman, and child deformed and mutalated. They stumbled in a drunken pace, moaning and stretching their arms out towards the officers. Jess heard muttering and saw a few officers step back, but they all held their place. When the zombies had come within range of the barricade, the police opened fire.

Every police officer opened fire, shattering the peaceful night air and causing Jess and Alyssa to cover their ears. All sorts of handungs, shotgun, machine guns sent hot lead into the decaying bodies, sending blood and guts flying into the air as corpses crashed onto the pavement. For a moment, hope was kindled as the police were able to beat back wave after wave of the undead. "Keep it up boys! You're doing great!" a gruff voice called over the gunfire. The officers poured everything at the horde, confident they would all soon go home alive. Then the unthinkable happened.

Every zombie that had fallen to the ground was slowly starting to rise to it's feet, seemingly unaffected by the storm of bullets moments before. Officers stopped firing and stared in horror as the cannibals marched onwards, confusion and fear gripping the force. "What the hell? Why aren't they dead?" a young officer shouted in panic. "Kill them all!" another voice ordered, and the gunfire resumed. It was too late though, as the zombies had reached the barricade. Officers backed away in panic, tripping over each other as the undead piled ontop of the unfortunate victims, sinking their rotten teeth into warm, human flesh.

Screams filled the air, and the panic caused less experianced officers to shout and flee, leaving other officers to their doom. "Retreat!" a voice called out, but the undead was unwilling to let anyone escape. One by one, each and every police officer present was consumed by the undead, unable to fight off the wave of Death itself.

Jess stared wide-eyed as he watched the massacre. The Raccoon Police tried to stop the zombies, but they had been unable to do so, costing their own lives for the price of failure. As a few surviving officers began running in the direction of the pair, Jess began to step back. "We gotta go!" he cried, tuggin on Alyssa arm for her to move. She stood frozen, her hand covering mouth as she watched the carnage unfold. "Oh my god..." she whispered, ignoring Jess. "Alyssa!" Jess shouted, bringing her back to reality. "Let's go!" he cried, looking back towards the mob, seeing them slowly start to advance past the barricade. Alyssa nodded and the two began running back the way they came. They passed an apartment block before turning the corner onto Oak St. This street too was destroyed, but as they turned the corner Alyssa saw exactly what they needed.

"There!" she pointed to across the street, a parked and undamaged Dodge Durango. It was dark green, and the windows were tinted black. "Jess come on!" Alyssa shouted, running over to the driver's side of the car, trying the door. It was locked. Jess tried the passanger door and it too was locked. "Damn it, we need the keys!" he shouted in frustration. Alyssa pulled out her pistol and yelled at Jess.

"Move!" With a pull of the trigger, she shot out the window and unlocked the door, climbing in the driver's seat. She unlocked the passenger door for Jess and he climbed in, seeing her fiddle wih her hands underneath the steering wheel. "What, you're gonna hotwire it?" Jess asked in disbelief. Alyssa nodded, struggling for a few moments. Jess looked out the window, seeing several dark figures turn the corner and stumble towards the car. "Hurry!" he cried.

"Goddamn it! Hold on for a second!" she yelled, her face sighing in frustration. Jess looked out the window again, seeing the figures coming even closer to the parked vehicle.

A few more moments, and then engine roared to life. "Yes!" Alyssa shouted, releasing the parking brake and slamming down on the gas pedal, speeding off into the night.


	8. A Dangerous Gamble

**Hell is only the Beginning**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to the Resident Evil series**

**Author's Note: Sorry for the slow update, but I'm beginning to write more in each chapter, so it will take more time to get each chapter up. Either way, here's chapter 8 :)**

_Chapter 8: A Dangerous Gamble_

"Damn it!" Alyssa shouted, slamming her foot on the brake pedal and hitting the steering wheel in frustration. The SUV had just turned a corner, one that would lead the pair straight to the police station. The only problem was the overturned city bus blocking the entire street. To makes things even worse, zombies had begun to notice the vehicle and were now shambling towards the duo.

"Find another way around!'' Jess cried, clearly uncomfortable with the undead so close to the car. Alyssa sighed in frustration, pulling the gear shifter into reverse. "There is no other goddamn way around, we tried all of the routes I know!" she yelled back, looking over shoulder as she backed around the street corner. "Everything's blocked off!" she cried in frustration, driving down the abandoned street, swerving to avoid obstacles in the road.

Alyssa and Jess had been driving around Downtown Raccoon for a half an hour, driving down every street that Alyssa knew would reach the RPD. Unfortunatly every street was blocked however, either by debris or hordes of undead. The gas tank only had 1/2 of the tank filled with gas, and both knew they had to find kind of shelter soon if they couldn't reach the RPD.

"So what do we do now?" Jess questioned.

Alyssa was silent, concentrating on her driving. Jess sighed when he recieved no answer and decided to look around in the car for anything that might be of use. He opened the glovebox and found a small stack of cd's, a few papers and a small bottle of asprin, manufactured by Umbrella. Jess smiled to himself, taking to asprin and closing the glove box. He climbed into the back seat, where he found a black messanger bag on the floor behind Alyssa's seat. Picking it up, he opened it and found a small laptop and a folder containing more papers.

_Must have been some kind of laywer or doctor _Jess thought, remembering that his own mother would carry around a similar bag in order to hold her own laptop and carry it around with her everywhere. Looking behind the seats, Jess found nothing else of interest, just some discard clothes and various magazines.

"Find anything good?" Alyssa asked. "Yeah, I found a bag." Jess replied. Alyssa momentarily looked into the rearview mirror at Jess, then quickly swearved to the left to avoid an oncoming zombie. "Here, put this in there will ya?" she said, her eyes still on the road. She unclipped the small pack that held a first-aid kit from around her waist and handed it back to Jess.

Jess took the laptop and folder out of the bag and placed them on the seat, putting the small first-aid pack in the bag. Jess noticed two side pockets on each side and inspected them, finding only pens and a packet of gum. He took two of his four handgun clips and placed them in the side pockets and zipped them up.

_It's not like I'll need them just yet, I haven't even used my gun since the van left..._

Jess decided to stay in the back seat, peering out the window at the streets of Raccoon. It could only be descibed as a warzone. Numerous cars were crashed into each other, shop's display windows were smashed out, the whole scene was utter chaos. A fire hydrant was spraying water from the sewers, a pile up blocked access to Barnes Ave., causing Alyssa to turn left on Evergreen Rd. and head farther north, towards the Uptown part of Raccoon. Occasionally, he would see a small mob kneeling on the ground and Jess would have to close his eyes, knowing deep down what was transpiring. He let out an audible sigh and caught Alyssa's gaze in the mirror. Her eyes too held the same pain Jess's did, and they both silently agreed that the whole situation was a complete nightmare, one both wanted to wake up from.

Jess was lost in his thoughts again as Alyssa blindly drove in the streets, looking for somthing, anything to keep the two safe from harm. Every street had been occupied by the infected, and Alyssa had been unable to find shelter for to two of them. The pressure was starting to get to her as she gripped the wheel tightly, her knuckles turning white and her bottom lip becoming sore from biting into it. It was when she turned onto the abandoned 29th Ave. that she saw her solution. She stopped the car and looked down the street, a certain spark returning momentarily to her eyes that she had lost.

"What is it?" Jess asked, sitting up and looking over Alyssa's shoulder.

"Over there." she stated, pointing to the 'Oxford Suites Bed and Breakfast' neon sign 200 yards down the desolate street.

Jess's eyes widened in realization. "You think it'll be safe?" he questioned. Alyssa stepped on the gas pedal.

"It's worth a look. I'm sure we can at least find a nice room or something to eat at least." she answered, driving closer to the hotel. Jess grabbed his pistol from his leg holster and took a deep breath, scanning the streets for any sign of trouble. As Alyssa slowly pulled into the empty parking lot, the two could see the lights were still on lobby, although they could see no one present. Jess grabbed the messanger back and slung it over his shoulder. Alyssa stopped and hesitated before she opened the car door.

"What wrong?" Jess asked.

"The engine, I don't know how to shut it off." Jess gave her a confused look at first.

"We might need the car later." she stated, giving Jess a worried look. For a moment Jess still didn't get what she meant.

"Why don't you just turn it off-" Jess stopped when he finally realized what Alyssa was talking about.

"See? I'm may be a master of unlocking, but I've never had this happen before." she stated, a hint of sarcasm in her voice.

Jess frowned in return, not having a clue on how to solve their problem. He didn't know what to say, so he kept quiet. Alyssa gave him a sigh in response.

"Well, if we plan to leave then we'll have to find a new ride." Saying that, Alyssa grabbed her own pistol and opened the car door.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The Oxford Suites was a respectable, four-star hotel and Jess could tell when he walked into the lobby. The marble floors and walls were nice and clean, with the exception of spots of blood on the walls and a large pool of blood in front of the main desk, and the fancy chandelier that hung in the middle of the lobby caught Jess's eye in awe for a moment. As he looked around, he frowned when the evidence was clear that even this place wasn't safe from the nightmares outside. Furniture was strewn about, chairs tipped over and the cushions from the couch were missing from the couch itself. A glass coffee table was broken, overturned with the glass shards littering the floor. Behind the counter Jess could see various papers scattered about, a computer monitor laying face down, completely broken. As Jess walked with Alyssa behind the counter, Alyssa gave a cry of fright when she looked behind the counter.

A body was laying face down in a pool of blood, literally torn into pieces. The skin was rotting grey, gigantic chunks of the body was missing. It looked like a turkey at Thanksgiving ripped apart rather then cut neatly. Alyssa covered her mouth as she ran over to a nearby garbage can, and emptied her stomach into the can. Jess too wanted to throw up, but managed to close his eyes and suppress his stomach. As Jess took a few steps away from the counter he stepped on a small nametag, the noise catching his attention.

"Regional Manger Peter" he read aloud, looking back at the deformed body

"So, they're here too?" Alyssa muttered, wiping her mouth and closing her eyes. She held her head like she had a headache,and sat silent for a moment.

"You think we can find a key to a room?" Jess asked after a few moments of silence.

Alyssa walked past Jess and stepped behind the counter, trying her best not to step in the mess of the former man named Peter. As she looked around the counter, Fate gave her a break as a card key caught her attention. It too was blood stained but Alyssa managed to read 'Master Key'. Alyssa smiled as she held up the card key.

"Which floor?"

Jess gave her a small smile. "You pick." he simply replied. Alyssa walked across the lobby, past the elevator and opened the door to a stairwell. She gripped her pistol as she looked up the flight of stairs. She motioned for Jess to follow.

He stood still for a moment. "Alyssa!" he called. She turned around, giving him an impatient look.

"What?" she replied. Jess pointed to the elevator. Before he could speak though, Alyssa spoke up.

"No way I'm waiting for those doors to open and have some rotting freak pop out at me!" she exclaimed, once again turning towards the stairwell. Jess took another glance at the elevator and quickly agreed with her, a small knot forming in his stomach at the thought of being in such an enclosed space with the undead. He ran across the lobby, following her up the stairs.

The duo climbed the stairs, running into a lone zombie face down on the stairs. After quickly dispatching it, Alyssa quickened her pace until she stopped at the fourth floor.

"Gut feeling." She muttered to Jess as he gave her a questioning look. He decided not to respond, his mind and body were extremely tired and ready to crash at any moment. He was actually almost out of breath just climbing the stairs.

Alyssa and Jess stepped out of the stairwell and into fourth floor hallway, which was thankfully clear of zombies. The white walls were clean of blood and other messes, and Jess laughed to himself at how Alyssa's intuition was correct. Alyssa looked at each room door, passing about ten doors before stopping in front of room 413. Jess once again decided not to question her, and rubbed his eyes as Alyssa inserted the small key into the door lock. With a small _beep! _the door unlocked and Alyssa stepped in first, gun raised. Jess took one last look in the hallway before entering after her.

The room was dark and Alyssa quickly felt along the wall for a light switch. She and Jess both let out a sigh of relief as there were no monsters in the immediate room, and Alyssa was quick to step into the small bathroom to check for threats.

"It's ok!" she shouted from the bathroom.

Jess closed the door and locked it, letting a triumphant smile break onto over his face. Jess thought that he could finally rest after the night's events, somthing he was ready to do immediatly. He quickly unslung the bag from his shoulder and tossed in a nearby chair, followed by his pistol and his two clips, and threw himself onto the nearest bed, kicking off his shoes in comfort.

The room was a moderate sized room, two beds and a small bathroom. There was a balcony, but the blinds covered the slider door and neither Jess nor Alyssa was willing to open them. The room was extremely clean, but Jess couldn't help notice that it was seemingly occupied before hand. A small red purse was left on the nightstand next to a telephone, and a pile of folded clothes were sitting on the other bed. Alyssa stepped out from the bathroom and mimiced Jess, tossing the pile of clothes on the floor before kicking off her heels and collapsing on the bed.

Jess sat up and looked at the red purse, noticing a piece of paper underneath the small handbag. His curiosity taunting him, he decided to sit up and read the note. It seemed to be a handwritten letter addressed to a person named Jamie.

_Jamie,_

_Now, I know you don't have alot of money right now, and you know I'm trying to help you get through your crisis. However, that doesn't mean you can get food for free here. I'm already breaking the rules by letting you stay here for the past couple of months, and I don't need to get in anymore trouble. Just do me a favor and don't order so much room service and then expect not to pay for it. I had a real hard time convincing the other employees that was ok._

_Peter_

_P.S. I put your car in the garage behind the building, otherwise it would have been towed. Once again, don't expect all the rules to be erased when your here. If you need it just ask that kid Ben, he'll get it for you._

Jess put down the piece of paper and thought about the last sentence for a minute.

_I suppose if we need a car we can go to that garage..._

Jess looked over at Alyssa, who was still laying on the bed. She was just staring at the ceiling, lost in her own thoughts. Jess looked at the small clock on the wall, seeing the time as 12:37. He pulled himself into bed, taking off the gun holster from his leg. Pulling the warm blankets over his body, his body seemingly molded into the comfy mattress as he closed his eyes. Alyssa muttered somthing to him unaudible and minutes later she shut off the lights and climbed into her own bed.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

_Jess looked around and found himself in his own home, his kitchen to be exact. The refridgerator door was open, the small table against the wall filled with stack of papers and a small briefcase. Jess couldn't really think though, because he found himself looking down at the corpse at his feet._

_She was dressed in a buisness suit, somehow familiar to Jess. Her long brown hair was strewn across the floor, her body looking broken and lifeless. Jess looked into the woman's face and realized who she was. She was Jess's mother. _

_Once again Jess couldn't think, only gazing down at what lay around her. Empty bottles lay everywhere, some clear, some black or brown. It took Jess less then a second to realize those were alcohol bottles. Looking from his mother to the bottles, Jess's empty state of mind was replaced by too many emotions for him to handle. Fear, pain, guilt, sadness, and anger came into his body, and then leaved as quick as they came. He only heard one voice._

"It's your fault."

_Jess blinked, and the scene changed instantly. Jess saw he was now in a small garage, but didn't bother to look around. He only stared at the lifeless corpse of his friend Clint. His body too was broken and lifeless. Empty beer bottles were replaced by small pill bottles. Each bottle had it's contents scattered across the ground, pills of all shapes, sizes, and colors mixing around Clint's body. The wave of emotions hit Jess again, and he opened his mouth, though no words came out._

"You could have stopped them. You could have saved them."

_Jess blinked, and the scene once again changed. This time, he was standing in complete darkness. Jess focused on the corpse and his heart sank when he saw who it was. It was the person who Jess couldn't stop thinking about all night long, Leanna. Her body was covered in scratches and cuts, and Jess realized a lone figure was standing over her._

"Why did you run away? Your mother was right, that's all your good at. Running away."

Jess opened his mouth, not taking his eyes of Leanna's lifeless body.

"No." was all he could mutter.

"Yes. It's _your _fault. _You_ did this."

Jess looked in horror as the lone figure shambled towards Jess, rotting arms outstetched towards him.

"No!" Jess yelled again. The figured gave a cry of laughter and grabbed Jess. The last thing Jess saw was Leanna's face, her pale skin matching her white, lifeless eyes as she opened her mouth and sunk her teeth into Jess's neck.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Alyssa gave another worried glance as she looked over her shoulder and saw Jess tossing and turning. She only got about an hour of sleep, so after tossing and turning in bed, she decided to try the phone to see if it was working. The time on the clock read 3:37, and Alyssa sighed at the lack of sleep her body had gotten. She was starting to get dark circles around her eyes, and her muscles and joints ached in protest as she moved her hand to the nightstand with the phone on it. She placed her hand on the phone, hesitating before picking it up and putting it to her ear, trying hard not to get her hopes up. Her eyes wided in surprise when she heard a dial tone.

"How can the phone lines still be up?" She asked herself.

She started to dial a number she had memorized, belonging to a co-worker named Ben Bertolucci. She held her breath for moment, and released it when there automated voice recording told her she couldn't reach that number. "Dammit..." she muttered, putting the reciever back on the hook. "Ugh...'' A low moan escaped from Jess's lips as he tossed over in his bed again, and Alyssa frowned when she saw his face. His face was covered with a fresh coat of sweat, his eyes squinted shut. He was muttering inaudible phrases but Alyssa was able to catch a word or two.

"No...Not true...Can't be...Leanna..."

Alyssa walked around the bed and knelt down infront of Jess. She hesitated, and then placed a hand on Jess's cheek.

"Jess..." she called out softly.

The young teen was still muttering phrases.

"Jess, wake up." Alyssa said a little louder. Jess still muttered and shook his head violently. Alyssa didn't know what to do. She made a rash decision and grabbed Jess's shoulder, shaking him just hard enough to wake him.

"Hey! Jess, it's just a dream!"

"NO!" Jess screamed, bolting upright and quickly pushing Alyssa away. "Jess!" Alyssa cried out, startled and quickly jumping back after being pushed away. Jess sat up and looked around, realizing he was still in the hotel room. He was breathing heavily, blinking his eyes to adjust his blurred vision. His state of mind was in confusion, the nightmare he just had seemingly so real to him, only to be brought back to reality so quickly.

"Jess..." Alyssa softly called out.

Jess snapped his head in her direction, expecting a monster or somthing else harmful. He took a deep breath when he realized it was Alyssa next to him, not a ghoul or monster.

"It's ok, it was just a dream."Alyssa said sternly, placing her hand on his warm cheek. Jess's voice cracked when he opened his mouth. "I-I get it..." He took a few momentss before speaking again. "Ok, yeah. I get it." he muttered, still scanning every inch of the hotel room. Alyssa opened her mouth, but closed it, thinking it was better to let Jess calm himself down. After a few moments, Jess muttered a quiet apology to Alyssa and climbed out of the bed, making his way to the bathroom. Alyssa waited, and then sighed when he closed the door, putting her palm to her forehead. First she couldn't get any sleep, then she couldn't get ahold of Ben, and finally she had a troubled teenager to look after.

"Can't get any better, can it?" She asked herself.

After emptying his stomach into the toilet, Jess wiped his mouth and turned to the sink. Thankfully the water was clean and still running. He cupped a handful of water in his hands and splashed his own face. He repeated the process a few more times until he finally looked into the small bathroom mirror at himself. His skin was pale, exaggerating the dark lines underneath his eyes. His own eyes gave away the look of fear and despair inside of him. His heart was still racing, but he took a few deep breaths to try to calm it down.

_It was just a dream...I'm sure everyone is ok..._

Wiping his face on a small towel on a nearby towel rack, he took a few minutes to compose himself before exiting the bathroom. He found Alyssa was on the phone, holding the receiver to her ear before slamming it down moments later, growling in frustration.

"Damn phone lines, everywhere I try it seem _their_ phones are the ones that don't work." she shook her head and laid down on the bed, staring at the ceiling. Jess's eyes wided slightly at what she said.

"That phone works?" he asked, walking over to the bed and sitting next to Alyssa, staring intently at the phone. Alyssa nodded. "Yeah, I dunno why but that phone gives a dial tone, so it must be working." she replied. Jess picked up the phone and placed it to his ear. A look of confusion crossed his face as he turned towards Alyssa.

"I can't hear anything." he stated.

"Press 9 first." she replied rather impatiently. Jess slight frowned and apologized in his mind.

Jess pressed the '9' key, and a small smile formed across his lips as he heard the familiar but slightly annoying dial tone. His hands shaking in anticipation, he quickly pressed numerous buttons until he stopped, and held his breath. The room fell silent, and Alyssa cocked her head at Jess. Even through the small reciever, Alyssa heard the ringing on the other end. Her jaw dropped for a moment at the sound, and she quickly sat up, intent on finding out what was going to happen next.

_Please pick up...Please pick up..._

The ringing continued, and Jess stared intently into space, waiting for a human voice to answer. Jess's hopes were dashed however, when he got an answering machine instead.

"Hi this is Teresa Anderson, and I'm not home right now." A woman's voice echoed through the phone. "Please leave your name and number and I'll make sure to get back to you as soon as possible. Thanks.'' With that, a loud beep was heard and Jess spoke into the phone.

"Mom, please pick up." he pleaded slightly. "Mom, if you're home you need to pick up." A few seconds of silence and Jess sighed in despair. "Well, when you get this umm...Just, stay home, ok?" Alyssa saw he was struggling with his words, his eyes watering. "I-I'll be home as soon as I can, just make sure you lock the door and stuff..." he trailed off, swallowing his spit to try and clear his dry throat.

"I...I-I love you, so stay-" another beep cut him off, and he sat stunned for a second until he realized the answering machine cut him off. Shaking his head he hung up the phone.

Alyssa placed a hand on the young boy's shoulder. "I'm sure she's ok." she said with a small smile. Jess shook his head. "No...She's...She's out there.'' he said, a hint of dissapointment in his voice. Alyssa frowned. "Don't worry, you don't know that. I'm sure she's somewhere safe like a hospital or the police station." she said, trying to cheer Jess up. Jess looked up at Alyssa, and opened his mouth, a little hesitant to speak.

"My mom, she's-" he stopped, looking down as if ashamed. "She's an alcoholic." he muttered. "If she's not home, then she must have beeen out drinking..." Alyssa bit her lip, unsure of what to say. Silence formed between the two and it clearly made Jess uncomfortable.

"I mean, I know it's not her fault but..." Jess shrugged slightly, not speaking another word. Alyssa silently felt sorry for Jess. She knew many people with children who were alcoholics, and were never there to be a proper parent to their child. While Alyssa frequently visited bars, she never got piss drunk or addicted, most of the time going simply to have a bite to eat, or work on her latest story. Tonight was no different, except for the monsters and nightmares that followed her usual dinner at J's Bar.

Jess looked up but avoided Alyssa's gaze, instead picking up the phone and started dialing a second time. Deciding to save his mother for another time, Alyssa once again cocked her head at Jess.

"Who are you calling now?" Alyssa asked. Jess waited until he could hear ringing on the other end before answering her.

"A really good friend." he simply replied back. Alyssa's thoughts shifted the other young teen she met tonight, Clint. Clint and Jess seemed complete opposites as far as looks go, yet they were obviously good friends. Alyssa wondered how many close friends Jess would try to contact.

The phone seemed to be ringing for a lifetime, until Jess was once again greeted by an answering machine.

"Hi, you've reached the William's home, we're not here right now." this voice was of an older man, a hint of a slight asain accent in his voice. "Please leave a message and we will try to get back to you as quickly as we can." another small beep and Jess took a deep breath.

"H-Hey Larry, this is Jess. Umm...I'm just calling to make sure you guys are ok, with everything going on tonight." Jess tried to keep his voice steady and calm. "I just umm...J-Just please be careful, I-" Jess was interrupted by a voice answering the phone.

"J-Jess?" the voice whispered. Jess's eyes shot wide open when he heard that voice.

"Leanna!" he shouted in the receiver. "Are you ok? Are you safe?" he sat up straight, eager for an answer. Alyssa too sat up and listened closely to the conversation.

"J-Jess..." the girl repeated again. He voice was trembling, her sniffles indicating she was or had been crying. "Jess, I need you..." she whispered.

"Leanna, what happened!? Are you hurt?" Jess asked frantically. Silence answered him.

"S-Somthing came into the h-house.'' she sobbed once more, causing a tugging feeling at Jess's heart. "Some monster!" she cried, her voice cracking. She once again started to cry.

"Leanna, are you hurt!?" Jess repeated, desperete for an answer.

"I-I'm in the pantry n-now...I think it's still in the house." she managed to say between sobs.

_So that's why she's whispering, she must be hiding! _All of the pain, all of the exhuastion was wiped from Jess's body as he stood up, his concern in his voice replaced with determination Alyssa didn't know he possed.

"Leanna stay there! I'm coming to get you!" he cried. Alyssa gave him a bewildered look but Jess ignored her.

More sobs. "Please!" she cried. "I need you-" Jess gasped as Leanna's voice was cut off, a bleak dial tone replacing her scared voice.

"Leanna!" he shouted. "Leanna!!" he shouted again, slamming the phone down and throwing his hands up in the air. For the first time in a long time, Jess truely felt helpless. He felt that he could in no way, shape, or form help the person he cared about most. Tears threated to spill over his face, but he blinked them away as he dashed over to the nightstand to retrieve his gun. Alyssa stood up to face the young teen.

"Jess, there is no way in hell I'm letting you leave!" she shouted. In her mind, she had tried to so hard to keep them both safe, and now he was ready to throw all of that hard work away.

"You don't have to come." he replied back, stapping the gun holster around his leg.

"No Jess, it's too dangerous!" Alyssa shouted, taking a step towards him. Jess looked up and gave her a cold glare.

"I don't care! I'm going after her!" he argued back, swinging the messanger bag over his shoulder. Alyssa held out her hands to stop him.

"Stop! Just stop for a second. Think about what you're doing!" she shouted. She was trying hard to control her own emotions now. It was clear Jess had let his get the better of him.

"Alyssa!" Jess yelled, surprising even himself at the feriocity of his voice. "I don't care what you say!" he began, pausing for a second to take a deep breath. "I'm going to go get her. You don't have to come. I'll do it myself." he finished, trying to keep his voice under control.

Alyssa crossed her arms. "How am I just supposed to let you go wandering around in this hellhole?" Jess growled in anger. "Just move!" he yelled. Alyssa stood her ground though.

"Do you even know how to drive?" she questioned. It was Jess who crossed his arms. He looked away. "I can walk." he finally muttered. Alyssa rolled her eyes. "You're not going anywhere." she stated firmly. Jess looked back at her with anger.

"Alyssa!-" Alyssa held up her hand to stop him.

"No Jess! Just calm down, let's sit down and at least talk about it in a civilized manner!" Jess opened his mouth to reply, but closed it, instead taking a seat on the end of the bed. Alyssa took a breath before sitting next to him. She spoke softly to him, her previous anger gone, replaced by the compassion and care Jess had grown somewhat attached to.

"Now listen. I know that you have family and friends that you care about. Even a social bitch like me does too." She gave a small laugh but Jess was silent, looking at the floor. "However, you can't just run off into the night after them, especially with all of those freaks out there, ok?" Jess slowly nodded in defeat. Alyssa bit her lip, trying to reach a decision in her own mind. "You know I would help you Jess but..." she paused for a second. "Even if we find this girl, we don't have anywhere safe to take her."

"I don't care." Jess interrupted. "I just want to see her...To make sure she's ok." he said, looking into Alyssa's eyes.

"Please." he pleaded. "I promise, I won't do anything else stupid, I just need to get to her!" he cried, tears forming in his eyes. "You don't know how much I care about her..." he trailed off, looking away. The very thought of Leanna dead made Jess's stomach flip and flop, threatening to drive him crazy.

Alyssa was silent, contemplating what to do. She personally wasn't willing to go through hell again, but the look in Jess's eyes when he pleaded with her almost broke her heart. She felt a special connection with Jess, one that made her not wanting to see him hurt, in any way,shape or form.

A few minutes of silence passed between the two. Finally, Alyssa spoke.

"Ok, we'll go get her." Jess looked up at her, his eyes briming with momentary happiness. "But!" Alyssa started. "That's it! I personally don't like being about those rotting fucks." she stated, crossing her arms. "We go get her, we find _somewhere else_ to stay, we wait for help..." she trailed off, formulating a plan in her mind. Jess raised his head. "Then it's settled. Let's go." he said, standing up. Alyssa grabbed his arm.

"Hold on a sec. We'll need to firgure out how to get another car. Plus, while you were sleeping I found some food in the mini-fridge over there." Jess sat silent for a moment, thinking about their transportation problem. Then, he remembered the note he had read on the nightstand.

"I think I know what to do."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

As Jess and Alyssa entered the rather large parking garage behind the hotel, both immediatly looked for a suitable car. Most of the lights were still on, making it easier to find a suitable vehical. Before, the two spent several minutes in the hotel room, discussing what to do, how to do it, and gathering what supplies they could. They found three bottles of water, a box of Pop-Tarts, and two cans of Chicken Noodle soup in the mini fridge Alyssa pointed out. Jess packed the food and drinks into his bag, and also found small pack of batteries which he decided to take. In the end, the two hadn't found much to use, but set out anyways.

As the pair looked around, Alyssa spotted a brand new 1998 Ford F150 truck against the far right side of the garage. It was a slick, crimson red color, had fours doors and looked virtually undamaged. "There, that should do." Alyssa pointed towards the truck, walking quickly over to it. Her heels clciked loudly in the dead air, giving Jess a feeling that they were walking in a tomb, not a parking garage. When the pair reached the truck, Alyssa fiddled with her lockpick, trying the driver's side door.

"Just a minute." she muttered, focusing on her new task. Jess turned around to keep a lookout. At first, nothing was amiss, but then he noticed somthing he hadn't noticed when he entered the garage. A crashed police van was sitting against the far side of the garage, it's back doors wide open. Even from across the garage though, Jess could read what it said on the side of the police van.

'K-9 Unit'

The thing that quickly caught Jess's attention the most however, was the several shapes lingering around the destroyed van. It took Jess only seconds to realize that those shapes were in fact dogs. Jess's heart stopped for a second, wondering if animals could become monstrosities like their human counterparts.

His question was quickly answered when he could see two dogs tearing apart a human corpse, most likely the officer responsible for driving the van.

" Umm, Alyssa..." Jess whispered. He shrank back against the truck, grabbing his pistol from his holster.

"What?" she snapped back loudly. Jess glared at her and tapped her on the shoulder, pointing towards the animals. Alyssa looked at him in annoyance, and then in the direction he was pointing. Her mouth formed a wide 'O' as she counted six dogs, and she quickly worked faster on the car door's lock.

The dogs themselves wanted around aimlessly, looking for a fresh meal. Unfortunately, it was only moments before one canine did notice the pair across the garage, and quickly let out a loud bark to signa it's cohorts. The rest of the pack perked their heads up, looking directly at Jess and Alyssa. Time seemed to stop as Jess felt several pairs of cold, lifeless eyes turn at look at the two humans. For a moment, neither party made a move, with the exception of Alyssa, and stared each other down. With a ferocious bark, the dogs charged across the garage towards the pair.

Jess's eyes widened as he saw several dogs charge towards him. He quickly brought his gun up, firing wild shots across the garage. All of the shots were sloppy however, and most missed their mark. "Shit!" Alyssa yelled, pulling out her own pistol and taking aim at the oncoming crowd. Alyssa started to pull the trigger when Jess's gun clicked empty, prompting him to quickly shove another clip in his pistol before firing again. Alyssa had managed to kill three dogs before she too had to reload. Jess fired at the nearest dog, about fifteen feet away, killing it with a head shot. Another canine was quick to replace it however, and Jess fired several more shots at it. Jess however, was unable to kill it, only grazing it a few times before it got close enough to lunge through the air and tackle Jess to the ground.

Jess screamed in pain as the dog tackled him to the hard concrete, quickly lunging for his throat. Jess was quick enough to use his hands to grab the canine's jaw, trying to close it shut and push the dog off of him at the same time. Jess had lost his grip on his pistol, dropping it somewhere unknown.

"Jess!" Alyssa screamed, firing more shots into the nearest dog before turning next to Jess, struggling on the ground. The dog was increadiably strong, and Jess used all of his strength to keep the dog from ripping his throat out, but it was a losing battle. Alyssa delievered a swift kick to the side of the dog, but it didn't budge, instead still trying to work past Jess's arms. Alyssa was about to shoot it, but she failed to notice the last canine as it too leapt through the air and tackled Alyssa to the ground.

Jess's grip slackened, and his hands were now holding the dog from it's neck, his arm muscle burning with pain as he struggled to keep away Death itse;f. He heard Alyssa cry and saw her fall to the ground out of the corner of his eye. He then looked at the beast on top of him. The dogs too were deformed and missing skin. It snapped it's jaw widly, trying to get a taste of the flesh beneath it. Saliva was forming from it's mouth, it's eyes the same milky white as the other zombies.

_Is this it? Am I going to die like this?_

Jess's strength was giving out. He turned his head to avoid the snapping jaws as they grazed his cheek lightly. That's when he saw his pistol lying next to him. Jess's ordered him to do somthing, anything in order to survive. With a cry and one last burst of strength he didn't know he had, Jess gave a rough shove against the dog, creating just enough room to get one arm free. He fingered the handle of the pistol widly, until he grasped the pistol and fired wild rounds into the canine's face just as it closed around Jess's throat. With a harsh yelp, the dog toppled of off Jess. He didn't waste anytime, turning over on his side and pumping the beast on top of Alyssa full of lead. The canaine mimiced the first one, yelping in pain and slumping over dead off of Alyssa. Jess quickly sat up in panic, aiming ahead towards anymore oncoming monsters. Fate gave him a break though, as all of the beasts were dead.

"Alyssa! Are you ok!?" Jess cried, helping Alyssa off of the ground. She nodded, breathing heavily. "Yeah, it didn't bite me. But it had the worst goddamn breath I've ever smelt!" she exclaimed, picking up her own pistol and aiming towards the truck window. With two shots she blasted out the window and unlocked the door.

With a sigh, she turned to look at Jess. "Should've just blasted the damn window in the first place." she said grimly. Jess simply nodded in grim sarcasm, bending over to catch his breath.

Alyssa quickly put a hand on his shoulder. "Are you ok? Did you get hurt?" she questioned. Jess simply shook his head.

"I-I'm fine." he replied, waving her off. With a nod Alyssa turned around and looked towards the abandoned police van. "Get in the car!" she ordered, running towards the K-9 van.

Jess looked up, bewildered look crossed his face due to her her actions but followed her orders, picking up his bag from the ground and climbing into the truck. He slid over to the passanger seat and watched as Alyssa looted the canine's former chew toy, returning to the truck with three handgun clips and a standard issue flashlight. Handing over the items to Jess, she began to hotwire the car. Jess reloaded his own handgun, his former clip exhausted, then put the spare clips in his bag along with the flashlight.

Alyssa took another few minutes before she was able to hotwire the car, and with a mighty roar, the truck's engine came to life. Alyssa took one last deep breath before pulling out of the parking garage and driving onto the streets of Raccoon. Jess wacthed as the former sanctuary they found slipped out of sight, a small part of him regretting leaving it in the first place, if only for a second.

_Leanna I'm coming for you, just hang on! _

**Author's Note: There's chapter 8. I personally feel like this chapter wasn't really my best, since I had alot of trouble writing it in general. I'll try my best to make it up in chapter 9. Either way, please leave a review, and as always constructed criticism and spelling/grammer help are always appreciated**


	9. An Unexpected Friendship

**Hell is only the Beginning**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to the Resident Evil series**

**Author's Note: I've decided to make this a sort of mini-chapter, instead of a full-fledged chapter. As you can probably tell, I like to write about the drama between characters, specifically the interactions between characters. I saw this as a good opportunity to expand the relationship between Jess and Alyssa, and to reveal just a little bit of information about each character's life. Either way, it's a short chapter, missing action and horror and I'm sorry if you don't care about the drama. Either way, here's chapter 9.**

**P.S. I'm pretty sure most Resident Evil fans agree that Raccoon City is located in Pennsylvania, however I've always thought it took place like somewhere in Colorado. In this story, Raccoon City is located in Colorado. Just somthing that I remembered that I thought you should know.**

_Chapter 9: An Unexpected Friendship_

The cab of the single truck driving through Raccoon City was mostly silent. As Alyssa turned onto another destroyed street she started to head north towards Uptown Raccoon City, specifically the Wandermere School district. According to Jess, Leanna lived in a small residential community close to Raccoon High School. Alyssa drove the truck past wreckes and hordes of undead, occasionally hitting an unfortunate victim. Jess simply stared out of the window, observing the death and destruction in the streets.

The two hasn't even made it out of the downtown district before Jess's body ached again with weariness. His initial rush of adrenaline had worn off, leaving him tired and drowzy.

_At this rate, it will take forever to get to Leanna's house...Maybe I could catch a few seconds of sleep..._

Jess thoughts were interrupted with Alyssa's voice. "So, this Leanna girl must mean something to you if you're willing to risk your life like this?" Alyssa wanted to know what exactly was so special about this one girl. "I mean... Is she your girlfriend or somthing?" she finished. Jess pondered the question before answering.

"I...Guess." he started. "I actually just kissed her tonight." he added, a small smile forming on his face at the thought of the recent memory. Alyssa smiled with him.

"How long have you known each other?"

"Five years. She's been my best friend since I started middle school." Jess paused, waiting for Alyssa to reply. After driving past another wreackage, Alyssa spoke up.

"And you've just now kissed her?" she questioned. Jess nodded.

"Yeah, we had the kind of friendship where like...We liked each other but neither made the first move, you know?" Alyssa chuckled in response.

"Yeah, I know exactly what you mean." she muttered in agreement.

It was Jess's turn to ask the questions. "What do you mean?"

Alyssa was silent for a moment. "Well I've been friends with this guy named Ben, he's also a reporter like me." she started. Jess was silent, waiting for her to go on.

"I'm not sure if he really has feelings for me but..." she trailed off, unsure of what to say. "It seemed like a missed chance, I guess." she finally finished, a hint of disappointment in her voice. "Yeah..." Jess agreed, relating to her pretty well. Alyssa hesitated before asking another question.

"Do you love her?"

The question caught Jess off guard, causing him to fumble for words. "W-What? Well I...Umm..." Alyssa tried hard not to giggle, finding Jess's reaction a little humerous. Jess went silent, thinking for a few minutes before answering her.

"I-I don't know. I don't think I've ever been in love, so I wouldn't know what it feels like, but whenever I'm with her, I just..." Jess paused. He thought about his choice of words carefully.

"I just love being with her. She makes me smile, she..." Jess laughed at himself.

"She makes me happy." he finished. Alyssa gave him a grin, her mind made up with the decision that she knew Jess was crazy in love. She couldn't help but feel happy for the boy, having once felt the same feeling he did once some time ago. The feeling that made your heart race, your stomach twist and turn, your mind convincing your body that you need that one person, and you can be happy.

The cab fell silent again. After a few minutes, Jess realized that Alyssa was the one asking the questions, and despite being an outspoken person in general, she had kept quiet about her own personal life. Jess thought it was better not to pry, was curious about her personal life nonetheless.

Jess turned towards her. "Do you have family that live here?" he asked.

Alyssa shook her head. "Well, my mom and my dad are retired, they live over in Denver." she said casually. "And then I have an older brother who's in the Army." Jess hesitated before speaking again.

"Not to be rude but..." he bit his lower lip. "How old are you again?"

Alyssa smirked in response. "28." she replied. Jess nodded, thankfully she didn't react to that kind of question.

"Thank goodness they aren't living here." Jess stated, referring to Alyssa's parents. Alyssa nodded.

"Oh yeah, especially with all the shit that's happened!" She paused before going on.

"What about your family?" Alyssa asked him. "Any siblings?" Jess shook his head in response. "Close relatives?" she asked.

"Nope. Just me and my mom." Jess answered her quietly. Alyssa quickly dropped the subject, remembering what Jess had said about his mother back in the hotel room.

It was then that a lightbulb in Alyssa's head clicked on, putting two and two together. She quickly realized why Jess must have cared about Leanna so much. She was one of the only important things he had in his life. Alyssa pressed down on the gas pedal just a little bit harder.

Fifteen minutes passed in silence as the duo made their way out of Downtown Raccoon and had entered the Uptown Part of Raccoon, consisting of mostly residential areas, schools and stripmalls. It was Jess's turn to guide Alyssa, having grown up in this area all of his life, he knew his way around. Both individual's sighed to themselves when they saw more undead plauging the streets. Thankfully, they weren't in big packs such as in the Downtown area, but the carnage was still evident.

To Jess, it was the final blow that broke his mindset. He finally accepted that Leanna was not safe _at all_. He desperately urged Alyssa to drive faster through the destroyed community.

"Ok, turn left on Kirkland, that will led you to Francis, which will take us all the way to Leanna's house." Jess told Alyssa. Alyssa nodded, following Jess's instructions. As she was driving, Alyssa noticed that almost every house in this community was crawling with undead ghouls. Judging by the fact that some streets were extremely similar to the ruined streets in the Downtown area, Alyssa had a feeling it wouldn't be as simple as going to this girl's house, picking her up, and getting back to the car. She hoped that her sake, and Jess's sanity, Leanna's house wouldn't be surrounded by zombies. She slowed down the truck's speed, giving her time to talk to Jess.

She opened her mouth, her voice calm, but stern. "Jess, now listen to me ok?" Jess looked at her, giving her his full attention.

"I know you want to help your friend, but we have to make sure it's safe around the house, alright?" Jess non-chalantley nodded, looking away from her. Alyssa however, wanted to get her point across.

"That means no rushing out of the truck when we get to her house. We don't want to get mobbed alright?" her voice was serious and grave. Jess sighed in response.

"Yeah, I got it." he said with an attitude. This ticked Alyssa off. She slammed on the brakes hard, stopping the truck with a jolt and turned to face Jess.

"Listen! I don't want to die, so when we get to her house, you are going to wait to make sure it's safe! Do. You. Understand?" her voice was angry, her brow furrowed. Jess was completely dumb-founded for a second at her reaction before replying in anger.

"Yes! I got it! I won't do anything stupid!" he yelled, staring down Alyssa. Alyssa bit her lip, wanting to smack the young teen across the face.

"Good." she replied, stepping on the gas again. Jess gave a sigh of disbelief.

_Two-faced bitch..._

Alyssa saw the still-standing street sign ''Francis" and looked to Jess for which way to go. He simply pointed to the right and Alyssa turned onto the street. "Where now?" she asked.

"Just a little farther, she lives a culdesac just up here." he responded. Jess gripped his pistol in one hand, the door handle in the other. Jess pointed to the right, prompting Alyssa to turn into the culdesac.

Surprisingly, it was quite empty. Only one lone zombie was wondering near a house, and two of the five houses looked like no undead had been present. Jess's hopes were dashed at the sight of crashed cars, two bodies on a nearby lawn, and a tipped over streetlight. Jess pointed to a medium sized, tan colored house near the left end of the culdesac. A single body littered the destroyed lawn.

"There!" Jess shouted, pointing the the house. Alyssa quickly pulled over into front of the house and stopped the car, looking around for any sign of danger. She turned to Jess and opened her mouth, but Jess was gone. He had already opened the car door was rushing around the parked truck to the body on the lawn.

"Goddamn that kid!" she shouted in frustration, stepping out the truck and running towards the lifeless body Jess was hovering over.


	10. Cries in Vain

**Hell is only the Beginning**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to the Resident Evil series**

**Author's Note: So I finally got a spell checker XD Hopefully that will help with my spelling issues. I'm having major writer's block and with a full-time job I don't have much free time to write. Sorry it takes about two weeks to get an update together, that's just horrible planning on my part. Once again I apologize. Either way, hope you like it.**

_Chapter 10: Cries in Vain_

Jess saw a body lying face down on Leanna's front lawn, and quickly jumped out of the truck and ran towards the corpse, ignoring Alyssa's cry of protest. As he ran up the lawn, his mind tried to prepare him for the worst. As he got closer he realized it was a man, and Jess breathed a small sigh of relief. He knelt down in front of the body, hesitating before turning the man over to get a look at his face.

_Holy Shit!_

Jess jumped back in shock as he flipped the deceased man over, recognizing him immediately. It was Larry William's, Leanna's father. His face still had the look of pure shock on it. His skin was bleak pale, a sign that he could become one of _them_ any minute. Jess looked over his body in horror, seeing the cause of the poor father's death. All over his body were cuts and tears, his skin ripped open by what seemed like a jagged knife. The man's entire body was covered in slashes, and the presence of a slash across the throat signified what had finally put the man out of his misery.

"Jess!" Alyssa shouted, running up next to him. "What the-Ahh!" Alyssa gave a cry of fear at the sight of the body, covering her mouth in shock.

"What the hell happened!?" she cried, looking at Jess. Jess shook his head in response.

"I have no idea, but it doesn't look he was eaten." Jess responded.

_Dear God...What happened here? Rest in peace Larry..._

Jess gripped his pistol tightly and continued up the lawn to the front door. He found it was just slightly open, a bloody hand print staining the glass window on the door. He pushed open the door and found it completely dark. He quickly fumbled in his bag for the flashlight and pulled it out of the bag. His pulse quickening, Jess entered the house.

Jess and Alyssa entered the rather large living room, Jess scanning the darkness for any sign of life. Alyssa realized that Leanna's father must have been richer then most average people due to the size of the house. The living room alone held a couch, two Lazy-Boy chair, a big screen TV, an expensive coffee table in the middle of the room, and a fireplace on the far end wall, a shelf above it containing pictures held in expensive picture frames. Alyssa would have thought it to be a great place to live, if the coffee table wasn't smashed to pieces, a chair ripped to shred, the shelf above the fire place completely destroyed, covering most of the fireplace with broken glass and picture frames.

Jess stopped in the middle of the room, observing the carnage. He contemplating calling Leanna's name but something stopped him. His throat squeezed shut every time he tried to mutter her name, his fears slowly taking over his body. At the far end of the living room was the kitchen. The dinning table was missing a leg, causing it to collapse on one side, the chairs knocked over on their backs. As Jess entered the kitchen, he flipped the light switch on the wall, illuminating the whole kitchen. Dishes sat in the sink, trance amounts of food still covering them. The kitchen window above the sink had no blinds covering it, revealing a pale reflection of Jess as he observed the carnage before him. Shelves hung open with various kitchen appliances falling out. What caught Jess's eye was the various claw marks adonting the cabinets and part of the counter/island in the middle of the kitchen.

Jess turned off the flashlight and sighed in despair. Alyssa spoke quietly. "Jesus, what could have done this? Maybe one of those skinless freaks?" The thought sent shivers down Jess's spine. Alyssa watched as Jess licked his lips and continued his search, walking around the counter. He stopped with a gasp, his eyes widening to the size of small saucers. Alyssa quickly looked around for the source of shock, and she too gasped in quiet shock.

Laying on the kitchen floor in a pool of her own blood was Leanna.

"Leanna!" Jess screamed, rushing to her side. She was face down in a fresh blood of her own blood, her long, wavy hair spread around wildly. Jess dropped his gun and the flashlight, picking her up and turning her onto her back, laying her head on his knees. She too was covered in cuts, a large gash across her stomach spilling blood across Jess's hands. Her eyes were closed, her body appearing lifeless.

"Leanna! Leanna! Oh god, please no!" he screamed, tears forming in his eyes.

_RRAAHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!_

An alien scream pierced the silent atmosphere, causing Alyssa to jump in fright. She looked past Jess, seeing a dark figure in the doorway leading to a laundry room. She gasped in horror, pointing and back away from Jess and Leanna. Jess too saw the figure in the doorway, his jaw dropping in shock.

_Kill it! Kill it!_

Jess's mind screamed for him to move. Without a second thought, he dropped Leanna's head onto the kitchen floor grabed his pistol and stood up, squeezing the trigger of the gun. Two gunshots filled the air before Jess saw the shape launch itself at Jess. With a quick reaction, Jess side-stepped the flying figure and fell to the ground, but he wasn't fast enough. His left bicep was slashed wide open, spilling more blood onto his arm. Jess ignored the pain however and he sat on the ground, his whole body frozen with fear at the sight of the mysterious attacker.

It was about as tall as Jess, though slightly hunched over. It's dark green skin was covered in scales, making it look similar to a cross between a gorilla and a lizard. Each hand held four fingers, each finger fitted with a razor sharp claw, the middle finger standing out with it's claw longer then any other. It was stained with fresh blood, causing the mutant to brring the claw up to it's mouth and lick the blood, revealing a set of razor sharp teeth, rivaling the mouth of a great white shark. The face of the beast was what scared Jess the most. The face looked like a piranha, small spikes on the back of it's head. Jess locked eyes with the beast, and Jess felt as though he was looking at the devil himself. The eyes held small black pupils, no other color present. The look they gave was of pure hatred, pure anger. It's eyes alone paralyzed Jess in fear.

_BAM-BAM-BAM!_

Gunshots pierced the creatures back, startling it and causing it to turn around and face Alyssa. She gasped in horror when the monster only seemed annoyed with the bullets, extending it's claws and rushing towards Alyssa. She pulled the trigger even more but the bullets did nothing to stop it's charge. Alyssa barely stepped out of the way to avoid a slash at her torso, taking a few steps back away from the beast. Jess regained his basic senses and aim his pistol again at the beast and fired. It turned towards him in annoyance. It gave another alien scream when Jess scored a lucky shot and hit it in the face, causing it to fall to the ground momentarily. Alyssa took her opening, running up to the downed beast and aiming straight at it's face, pulling the trigger until her gun clicked empty.

Another alien scream pierced the air as another creature emerged from the laundry room. Jess, still on the ground turned to fire at the beast. It too however shrugged off the pistol rounds and with a swift leap tackled Jess, pinning him to the ground.

"NO!" Alyssa screamed, trying to fire her pistol, but to no avail. It was out of ammo.

Jess's weapon was swept from his hands, the only thing between him and the creature was his bloody arms. He looked into the face of the creature once again, and it seemed to grin at him before raising it's claw for the deathblow. Jess shielded his face and closed his eyes, his last thoughts on Leanna. He was too caught up in his final thoughts to hear the crash of glass from the kitchen window above the sink.

_I'm sorry Leanna, I failed you... Maybe I'll see you on the other side..._

Alyssa screamed in horror, throwing her hands up to her head, unable to stop what she knew was coming.

_TATATATATATATATATATATATA!_

The creature screamed in pain and toppled off of Jess as machine gun fire racked it's body with pain. Alyssa turned in shock to the source of gunfire, a lone rifle barrel sticking through the kitchen window and rapidly firing bullets into the beast. The creature screamed as bullets ripped it's skin into pieces, unable to move or react because of the pain. It wallowed a harsh scream as it slumped over dead, crimson red blood spilling onto the kitchen floor.

Jess and Alyssa both sat in shock, Jess particularly unable to comprehend what happened. A swift kick to a door was heard coming from the laundry room, and heavy footsteps were heard moments later. Jess and Alyssa waited both in fear and shock to see who their mysterious savior was. Jess looked into the laundry room doorway and found himself looking down the barrel of a machine gun.

"Freeze! Both of you!" a man's voice yelled. A police officer stepped into the kitchen, sweeping the space for anymore threats. He was a tall, well built man. He wore riot gear consisting of a tactical helmet and balaclava, a bulletproof vest with the words ''R.P.D'' stitched on the front. He wore standard issue boots and fingerless gloves, and had a pistol holstered on his leg. He was carrying an M4A1 carbine rifle, a ITL MARS reflex scope mounted on the top of the weapon. He looked exactly like the riot officers that were down on Main St., and Jess was curious for a moment if this man was a survivor of the massacre he witnessed.

"Hey! Are you still human!" the man yelled again, shifting his aim between Jess and Alyssa. Alyssa quickly nodded and Jess stuttered to say something, anything. For a few seconds, the officer seemed like he wasn't going to lower his weapon, but he finally did, albeit slowly. He nodded towards Alyssa.

"Alright...Are you ok?" the man asked. Alyssa nodded, walking towards Jess.

"I am." She answered. "He's not though." Alyssa knelt down next to Jess and grabbed his bag, rummaging through it for the first-aid kit. "Would you mind helping me out officer...?"

"Garner. Tony Garner." the officer answered her, shoulder his rifle and kneeling down to help Alyssa.

"Wait, wait!" Jess shouted. He quickly crawled over to Leanna's body, ignoring the adults.

"Leanna! Oh my god Leanna!" he shouted, once again picking up her head and resting it in his arms. Jess's heart nearly stopped when she opened her eyes and looked at him.

For a moment, her dull eyes widened in shock, and her lips quivered for a moment, trying to find words. Jess cradled her, tears erupting from his eyes, silently falling down onto her pale face. Her normally tan skin was extremely pale, her eyes losing signs of life. Jess found the source of her pain, a large hole in the middle of her stomach, about the size of a large fist. Too many emotions ran through him when he saw her in pain, unable to speak. Anger, guilt, fear, all those emotions were fighting for control of Jess's mind.

"J-Jess..." Leanna whispered. She raised a shaky hand and touched his cheek.

"Shh...I'm here now..." Jess answered back. He quickly turned towards Alyssa.

"S-She needs help!" he yelled, examining her body once more. Alyssa quickly kneeled next to Jess, examining her wounds. Her face paled when she saw the hole in her stomach.

"Jesus Christ..." she muttered, opening the small first aid kit and taking out first aid spray, and bandages. Alyssa shook the first-aid spray can and prepared to spray her wounds.

"This is gonna hurt ok?" Jess whispered in Leanna's ear. She nodded, still looking up and Jess.

"Y...You came...I-I didn't think...Ahh!" Leanna cried out in pain as Alyssa sprayed the various cuts around her body, sealing them closed. When it came to the hole in her stomach however, Alyssa gulped. She looked around at Officer Garner.

"Don't just stand their, help us!" Alyssa shouted at him. The Officers stood silent for a moment.

"We need to get moving before more of those things find us." he sternly replied.

Alyssa look at him in bewilderment. "Just fucking help! You took first-aid classes right?" Alyssa shouted back. Garner bent down to take a look at her wounds. Jess looked up, tears still flowing freely from his eyes.

"Help her!" he pleaded. Leanna was still bleeding from her stomach, and it was slowly oozing out onto the kitchen floor. Garner took a deep breath.

"She needs to get to a hospital, there's nothing this little kit can do for her stomach." he said grimly. Jess glared up at him, unable to control his emotions.

"We have to help her-" Garner cut Jess off swiftly.

"I know kid! But fuck, look at her stomach! The best we can do is wrap that shit up and get out of here!" he answered back rather harshly. Jess didn't care about leaving, he jus wanted to help Leanna. She was dying in his arms and Jess couldn't lose her, not after coming so far.

"Why do you want to leave so badly?" Alyssa asked hotly. Garner pointed towards the broken window.

"Those things were chasing me here, and I heard your gunshots so I thought I could find help. Those monsters might still be around! They're like goddamn hunters or something with the way they're been chasing me!" he replied. He ripped the bandages from Alyssa's hand and examined Leanna's wound again. He carefully wrapped Leanna's body around her waist, and gave a loud sigh. "That's the most we can do for her. She'll need to see a doctor with a wound like that."

Jess and Leanna were lost in each others eyes. Jess's heart wanted to burst through his chest as he saw the pain and suffering in her beautiful eyes. "Jess...I don't wanna die.." she cried, tears falling down her face. Jess wiped the tears from her cold cheek.

"You're not gonna die...I-I won't let you!' he whispered back, cradling her even closer. Alyssa placed a hand on Jess's shoulder.

"It's gonna be ok...She's gonna be ok..." Alyssa said hesitantly. She didn't know if that was the truth, and Alyssa and Garner both gave each other questioning looks when it came to the girl's odds of survival. Jess didn't care what her odds were. Jess had his mind focused on solely being there for Leanna, and he wasn't going to give her up so easily. His thoughts were once again interrupted by Officer Garner.

"How the hell did you guys end up here with all those goddamn Hunters around?" he questioned.

"We have a truck outside, we came from-"

Garner quickly interrupted her. "A truck? A working truck?" he eager asked. Alyssa nodded. "Then let's fucking move! We can't stay here!" he cried, standing up quickly.

"We have to get her help!" Jess cried back. He was looking at Leanna's stomach, the fresh bandages turning a sickly crimson color in minutes. Officer Garner let out an audible sigh and nodded.

"Ok, we'll get her help, don't worry kid." Garner said hesitantly. Alyssa looked into his eyes, seeing the shade of brown pupils racked with fear and anxiety. Deep down, Alyssa wasn't so confident that this officer had his sanity under control. Her first impression of him was that he cared for himself, unlike Officer Kevin Ryman who helped everyone as much as he could. Alyssa quickly thought of the brash but caring cop and breifly wondered why Fate decided he couldn't be with her, rather then this coward.

Leanna muttered something inaudible as Jess wrapped her arms around his neck and picked her up, carrying her. Just as soon as he stood up though, he stumbled and kneeled down again, holding his head.

"Oooh..." Jess muttered as he felt a wave of dizziness overcome him.

"What's wrong?" Alyssa asked with concern.

"I just feel kinda dizzy, but I'm ok." Jess replied, about to pick Leanna up again. Alyssa stopped him.

"Jesus Jess, look at your arm! You've lost a lot of blood!" Alyssa pointed at his left bicep, his wound still fresh and bleeding. Jess however, felt nothing at the moment.

"I'm fine, we need to move her-" Jess was interrupted again, this time by Garner.

"She's right kid, you've lost too much blood. You're probably in shock and can't feel a thing." he said. Jess gritted his teeth. "I don't about myself! We need to get Leanna to a doctor!" he snapped back.

"Just chill out!' Alyssa exclaimed, pulling out the first-aid spray can and shaking it. "This will take just a minute." she said, and sprayed the healing substance on Jess's arm. Jess gritted his teeth in pain as he felt the wound try and close itself. The cut was too big however, and it only managed to stop the bleeding momentarily. Meanwhile, Garner walked back into the living room, waiting for the pair to finish their business.

Alyssa wrapped the last of the bandage around Jess's arm. Satisfied, she placed the first-aid kit back in the bag and swung it over her shoulder. "I'm no doctor, but I'm pretty sure you'll need stitches for that." she said to him. Jess grunted in response.

"Leanna..." he said softly to the dying girl in his arms. She opened her eyes and looked back at Jess, a small smile forming on her face.

"Leanna, we're gonna move now ok? We're gonna go find a doctor." Jess whispered in her ear.

"W...Wait..." she replied. "My dad...I-Is he ok?" she questioned. The question caught Jess off guard, who opened his mouth in response but quickly closed it. After a few moments he looked her in the eye and nodded.

" Yeah, I'm sure's he fine. We gotta go..." he lied, unable to tell her the truth. Wrapping her arms around his neck tightly, Jess picked her up, causing her to cry out in pain. Jess cringed at her cry, sighing deeply at his own feeling of helplessness.

"I know it hurts but you just bare with me, I'm here for you." Jess said to her. Her eyes squeezed shut, she nodded and shifted her body in Jess's arms. Jess gave Alyssa a concerned look and she returned it, feeling just as helpless as Jess. Alyssa swung the messenger back over her shoulder, and grabbed both her's and Jess's handguns. The pair walked into the living room to join their new comrade.

"We ready?" Garner asked. Jess and Alyssa both nodded, and the small group exited the cryptic house. Jess felt like he was hit with a wave of death and suffering, and wanted nothing more then to wash away all of the filth and grime from his body. He was concerned about finding help for Leanna, knowing that it would be difficult to get around town through the streets. Thankfully, the area outside was still clear of any trouble, and Garner quickly ran over to the driver's side of the truck. Alyssa opened the back doors for Jess and he gently set Leanna down on the back seat. He climbed in and laid Leanna down, her head resting on his lap.

"You're gonna be ok, I'm taking you to see a doctor." Jess muttered to Leanna. She grabbed his hand wrapped an arm around his neck, pulling his closer to her face. When he was fully bent over, Leanna started to cry into Jess's shoulder, sqeezing Jess's hand tightly. Jess returned the gesture and started to stroke Leanna's hair.

"Shh...Everything's gonna be ok..." Jess whispered into her ear.

She sobbed even harder, taking deep breaths before muttering incoherant phrases into Jess's ear.

"Y-You weren't there...Those..._things_ came through the front door...My mom ran upstairs and they chased her..." More sobs were heard as Jess held her tightly.

"I-I heard her Jess...I heard her scream and die..." Leanna sobbed even harder, unable to speak for a few seconds.

"Those eyes...Oh god those eyes..." She muttered.

"Shh...They're gone Leanna...You're ok now...I'm here for you." Jess replied quietly. He wiped her tears from her face but more quickly replaced them.

"I know Jess...Y-You're always there...I love you so much..." Leanna whispered between sobs. Jess felt a stab of guilt when she said that and was going to reply when an scream cut him off.

Alyssa closed the truck doors and sighed with relief. Jess and her and done what they came to do, and now Alyssa was ready to head back to the hotel downtown, praying it wasn't overrun with the undead. She was about to climb into the passenger seat when an harsh alien scream filled the air, and three more screams of the same kind answered the call. Alyssa turned around in horror as she saw four Hunters emerge from the shadows of the side of the house, eager for fresh blood.

"Lady get your ass in here!'' Garner called out, shifting the gear stick into drive. Alyssa hopped in the truck and slammed the door shut, locking it just as the Hunters charged the vehicle.

"Shit, there's more of them!" the officer called out as he slammed on the gas pedal. The trucks screeched in protest, but the vehicle didn't move.

"The parking brake you dumb ass!" Alyssa yelled as she pushed the emergency brake down. Suddenly, the passenger seat window broke, shattering glass upon Alyssa as she screamed in terror. Another Hunter rammed the truck, causing the vehicle to rock violently. Gripping the wheel for dear life, Garner slammed his foot on the gas pedal and quickly drove off. His fears weren't calmed however, as he felt a thud coming from the back of the truck, and another from the roof of the cab.

"There's one in the back!' Jess screamed and he shielded Leanna's face. A Hunter had jumped into the bed of the truck, and wasting no time, rammed the back window causing it to crack and shake the truck violently.

"Kill it! Get it off us!" Garner screamed as he took a sharp left out of the culdesac in hopes to shake the Hunters off. Alyssa fumbled with the handgun, reloading it with her second to last clip. She was shaking however, and Garner's driving didn't help her much. A large _thud_ from the roof scared her and caused her to scream in shock as a large dent formed from the second Hunter. The first Hunter once again rammed the glass window, this time breaking it and sending shards of glass all over Jess and Leanna. Jess was hunched over her face in hopes of protecting her, which made it wide open for Alyssa to shoot the beast. She turned around in her seat and wildly pulled the trigger, striking the beast several times, causing it to back away from the back window. Unfortunately, just as in Leanna's house, the beasts were resilient to the 9mm rounds, and it pressed forward, hoping to kill the teenagers in the back. Alyssa emptied the handgun and quickly dropped it, searching for Garner's rifle. She found it lying on the floor and she quickly picked it up.

"Go back to hell!" Alyssa screamed as she pulled the trigger on the assault rifle. Jess had his eyes closed, his body shielding Leanna. The thunderous roar from the machine nearly deafened his hearing, and the high pitched alien scream that came from the bed of the truck signified that Alyssa had killed the creature. The small victory was short lived however as the other Hunter managed to punch through the roof of the trucks, it's claw swiping Garner's shoulder, causing him to cry out in pain which made him swerve the truck wildly across the destroyed streets.

Alyssa aimed the rifle at the roof and pulled the trigger, the bullets ripping through the cab's roof as chunks of blood poured down into the cab, another harsh scream filling the air as the Hunter's body slid off of the roof and toppled into the streets. The rifle clicked empty, but Alyssa still held it tight in her hands, breathing heavily in terror. Jess looked up and looked at her, nodding to signify to her that he and Leanna were ok. Alyssa breathed another sigh of relief and turned around to sit properly in the seat. Just as soon as she looked out the dashboard horror, she screamed in terror.

"Ahhh fuck!" Garner cried in pain as he held in right shoulder with his left hand. He wasn't paying attention to the road and he didn't realize the truck was speeding straight at a destroyed city bus, overturned and blocking the whole street. The officer cried in terror as he slammed on the brake, but it was of no use. The truck was speeding at 45 mph, and there was no time to turn. Jess too saw the roadblock and quickly realized they were going to crash. He didn't have his seat belt on, and there was nothing he could do to protect himself. He did the first thing his instincts told him to do. He shielded Leanna's head held her tightly as she sobbed in his chest.

"Leanna, I love you!"

"I love you too!"

_**CRAAAASH!!**_

**Author's Note: Just wanna say thanks to all the readers still reading this. Even though most of you guys don't leave reviews, at least I know I'm getting a consistant hit rate for each chapter :) In the end, I was ask all of you to review and please tell me something you didn't like or think can be improved upon. While I of course love the praise, I really think that I can certainly improve on my writing, and you guys as readers can be the first step to helping me improve. Seriously, don't be afriad to rip me new one if you can point out what I can do better. Many thanks and as always spelling/grammer help and constructed criticism are welcome. **


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